Desnobifying Classical Music

de | snob | ify verb An attempt to remove the perception that a thing is elitist and unapproachable

Interested in classical music but not sure where to start?

It's 1992 and I'm sitting outside during the intermission of a performance of a Mozart opera. [I can't remember which one.] A bus driver on a smoke break decides to strike up a conversation. His opening line: "What do you see in all that classical music stuff? What makes you want to listen to it?" He seemed genuinely curious rather than mocking.

This is an ongoing project designed to answer that question. It will explore Classical music by composer, style and genre. Each entry will include some brief background information, provide a few musical examples in the form of Youtube clips and then suggest some further listening. The two posts below this one will be updated to form an ongoing index and allow easy access to the subjects via hyperlinks.

I'll mostly be letting the music speak tell its own story. If you want a deep dive, check out the thread dedicated to desnobifying music history and theory. I'm not going to please everyone in the choices of music I make to introduce a particular composer. Feel free to make your own recommendations if you're a well traveled classical music nerd and, for that matter, interact in any way you see fit. There are no silly questions. Well, there are. For example, if I were you I wouldn't ask about the migratory habits of the Kenyan nose-fluted warbler.

 

Composers

The Baroque Period (roughly 1600 - 1750)
JS Bach
Vivaldi

The Classical Period (roughly 1750 - 1820)
Mozart
Beethoven

The Romantic Period (roughly 1820 - 1900)
Tchaikovsky

 

Styles & Genres

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

By the time old Wolfy was my age he'd been dead for twelve years. He offended and charmed his way through Europe from his base in Salzburg and then Vienna, penned "scatologically ribald" letters to friends and family and even found time to write some of the most marvelous and memorable music of his day.

Overture to The Marriage of Figaro



Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)



Adagio from "Gran Partita" Serenade for Winds ("Adagio" means "slowly")




Extra listening:

Piano Concerto No. 23
Requiem Mass in D Minor
Piano Sonata No. 11
Queen of the Night Aria from The Magic Flute

 

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Beethoven wrote some of the most enduring and endearing music I've ever heard while he was functionally deaf in his forties and fifties. Imagine how vividly he heard things in his head. His fifth symphony is a landmark of Western cultural history and is currently exiting our solar system on the golden record aboard the Voyager spacecraft.

Symphony No. 5



Adagio from Piano Concerto No. 5



"Moonlight" Sonata for piano



Extra Listening:

Violin Concerto
"Waldstein" Sonata for piano
Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"
"Fidelio" Overture

 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

Good old JSB is also on his way to the stars aboard the Voyager spacecraft. By all accounts a bit of a narcissist, he had good cause to be proud of his output, although ostensibly and (probably sincerely) to the glory of God. Many of his compositions were intended for use in the Lutheran church, although his body of secular works is both prodigious and spectacular. Oh, he also was the father of 20 children, some of whom became famous composers in their own right.

Magnificat



Air on the G String from Orchestral Suite No. 3



Toccata & Fugue in D minor



Extra Listening
Cello Suite No. 1
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Largo from Double Violin Concerto
St. Matthew Passion

 

Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Tchaikovsky composed music at time when feelings of nationalism were coursing through the veins of many Europeans and his music has a particular Russian identity. This can be seen in the subject matter of some of his works, such as his famous 1812 overture, which commemorates a Russian victory over Napoleon. The orchestral forces for the performance include, quite literally, heavy artillery, although in the version I've embedded they wimp out and use muskets. You can hear the piece at the conclusion of the movie "V for Vendetta".

1812 Overture



Waltz from Serenade for Strings



Fantasy Overture Romeo & Juliet



Extra Listening:

Music from the Ballet "Swan Lake"
Piano Concerto No. 1
Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
Violin Concerto

 

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

Vivaldi's nick-name "The Red Priest" came about firstly because of his Catholic ordination and secondly, because of his habit of flagellating students of a girls school when they performed his compositions without the panache they deserved. Three out of four main points in the foregoing sentence are true. He was also the "god father" of the concerto (a type of composition for orchestra and a featured solo instrument), consolidating its place in the landscape of eighteenth century music and writing a truck load of them.

"Spring" from the Four Seasons



Concerto for recorder



Concerto for mandolin

 

6. Mendelssohn

 

7. Brahms

 

8. Schubert

 

9. Handel

 

10. Schumann

 

11. Debussy

 

12. Monteverdi

 

13. Mahler

 

14. Troubadours

 

15. Haydn

 

16. Dowland

 

17. Copland