Music about feelings

Many composers have written music that describes their feelings and emotions.The French composer Berlioz fell in love with the actress ,Harriet Smithson sfter seeing her in a play.He was unable to arrange to meet her,so to attract her attention he wrote the Symphonie fantastique ("Fantastic symphony") about his feelings for her.

The story behind the piece is a mixture of facts,emotions,dreams and nightmares.At the first performmance,the audience was given a printed copy of the story to read.The music expresses his often very dramatic.

Though Harriet Smithson was not at the concert ,she and Berlioz later met,and were eventually married.

Chopin playing Nocturnes

Chiopin composed many pieces called Nocturnes.They were written speacially to create a mood or describe a specific play or event.

Chopin used to play them for his friends in the evenings as a form of relaxation.


Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps

(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Seasonal music

Sometime music is written to describe different times of the day or year.Vivaldi wrote a set of pieces called The Four Seasons.It describes the way the seasons change throughout the year.

He wrote lots of comments above the music to say what was happening,such as "the dog barks"
and "shivering with cold"

A scene from The Four Seasons

Haydn also gave descriptive titles to a lot of his music .He wrote three pieces to describe different parts of the day.These are called le matin ("Morning"),le midi ("Noon") and le soir ("Evening").There are no words written above the music,but you can hear the mood change in each piece.Le matin has a slow in troduction,as if the sun is rising.Then the music livens up as the day begins.

Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps

(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Music that tells a story

Many composers have written music based on stories.For example,yhe Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov based one of his pieces on The Arabian Nights,a large collection of folk tales.The music is called Scheherazade,after the woman who first told the stories.

Scheherazade

Each movement has a title to tell the listeners which part of the story it represents.The first movement is called "The young prince and the young princess".

Scheherazade telling her stories

This type of music often uses specaial themes (melodies) for the main characters in the story.This helps listeners to recognize the people in the story when their themes are played.Sometimes it is also possible to tell the mood of the character.For example,if the theme is played very loudly,with drums in the background,it could mean that the character is angry. Another Russian composer, Tchaikovsky,wrote a piece about the war between Russia and France in 1812.He used parts of the Russian national anthem to describe the triumphant feeling of the Russian as they finally beat the French.The music even includes cannons to create the sounds and atmosphere of a war.The piece is called the 1812 Overture.

Tchaikovsky,wrote a piece about the war between Russia and France in 1812.

Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps

(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Landscapes and scenery

Some music discripbes a place or landscape.Mendelssohn composed a piece of music called The Hebrides Overture (sometimes known as Fingal's Cave).


It was written in 1830 after he visited the Hebrides,a group of islands off the west coast of Scotland. He thought the scenery was so beautiful that he wrote a piece of music about it.


Many pieces were written to describe the composer lived.Between 1872 and 1879,the Czech composer Smetana wrote a set of six pieces which he called Ma Vlast ("My Country").Each one is about a different aspect of Czech countryside and culture.He called them "musical poems"because he thought they were so descriptive that the audience would feel as if they were reading poetry. Pieces like this are examples of a trend in music known as Nationalism .

Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps

(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Descriptive music

All the pieces in this section of the entry describe a scene or tell a story.But they are different from the theatre music.Because, they were not written to accompany plays,songs and dances.There are no spoken words or actions either.You have to imagine the story or picture yourself while you listen to the music.

A18th century audience

To help you todo this,some pieces have titles that tell you what the music is about.Others also have words written above the music to tell the plays what is happening.During the 19th century,when descriptive music was very popular,the audience was sometimes given a booklet to read which explained the story.This meant they could follow what was happening while they listened to the music.

Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps

(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)