99. Classical Music: 14. Franz Liszt, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

This week's lecture is “Franz Liszt”, the 14th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “99. Classical Music: 14. Franz Liszt” introduced on August 19th, 2017.

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger and organist of the Romantic era, born on 22 October 1811 and died on 31 July 1886.

Liszt was born in Raiding, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire, the son of Anna Liszt and Adam Liszt. His father, who played the piano, violin, cello and guitar, served Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy and was personally acquainted with Haydn, Hummel, and Beethoven. 

Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy

He began listening attentively to his father's piano playing at the age of six and was exposed to music through attending mass as well as traveling Romani bands that toured the Hungarian countryside. His father began teaching him the piano when he was seven, and Liszt began composing in an elementary manner when he was eight. In 1820, at the age of nine, he appeared in concerts at Sopron and Pressburg (present-day Bratislava), after which wealthy patrons offered to finance his musical education in Vienna.

One of Franz Liszt's pianos, Budapest

There, Liszt received piano lessons from Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven and Hummel, when he was a young man, and composition lessons from Ferdinando Paer and Antonio Salieri, who was then the music director of the Viennese court. Liszt's public debut concert in Vienna on December 1, 1822 was a huge success.

Carl Czerny

On July 2, 1881, Liszt fell down the stairs of a hotel in Weimar, Germany. His friends and colleagues noticed that Liszt had swollen feet and legs when he had arrived in Weimar the previous month, but he was still healthy and active by then. 

Franz Liszt Fantasizing at the Piano, Josef Danhauser (1840)

However, after the accident, he was left immobilized for eight weeks and never fully recovered from the accident. A number of ailments such as dropsy, asthma, insomnia, a cataract in the left eye, and heart disease manifested, and he died of pneumonia at the age of 74. 

It has been suggested that the pneumonia that caused his death may have been infected during the Bayreuth Festival hosted by his daughter Cosima, as well as medical malpractice as part of his cause of death. He was buried in the Bayreuth Municipal Cemetery on August 3, 1886.

Grave of Franz Liszt, Bayreuth

His old friend, composer Camille Saint-Saëns, whom Liszt once called "the greatest organist in the world", dedicated his third symphony, "The Organ Symphony," to Liszt, which had premiered in London only a few weeks before his death.

Camille Saint-Saëns

Liszt gained a great reputation in Europe as a pianist who demonstrated remarkable virtuosity in the early 19th century. He was a friend, music promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Frédéric Chopin, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, Ole Bull, Joachim Raff, Mikhail Glinka, and Alexander Borodin.

Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest

A prolific composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representative musicians of the New German School. He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work that influenced his forward-looking contemporary musicians and predicted 20th-century ideas and trends. 

Among Liszt's musical contributions are the symphonic poem that developed thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and radical innovations in harmony.

Thank you.

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COMPOSER OF THE WEEK: 23. Béla Bartók

Born: March 25, 1881; Nagyszentmiklós, Kingdom of Hungary (presently Sânnicolau Mare, Romania)

Died: September 26, 1945; New York, New York, The United States of America

Nationality: Hungarian

Occupation: Composer, Pianist, Ethnomusicologist

Béla Bartók is a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist, born on March 25, 1881 and died on September 26, 1945. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century, and he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Bartók, who collected folk music and conducted analytical study of them, was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology.

Béla Bartók (1927)

Bartók was born in Banat of Nagyszentmiklós in the Kingdom of Hungary (presently Sânnicolau Mare, Romania). He showed remarkable musical talent from a very early age, and according to his mother, Bartók was able to distinguish between different dance rhythms she played on the piano before learning to speak in complete sentences. 

At the age of four, he was able to play 40 pieces on the piano, and his mother began to teach him the piano formally the following year. Bartók was well-received for his first public recital in Nagyszőlős at the age of 11, and shortly thereafter, László Erkel accepted him as a pupil.

Bartók's signature on high school graduation photograph (9 September 1899)

From 1899 to 1903, Bartók studied piano under István Thomán, a former student of Franz Liszt, and composition under János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There he met Zoltán Kodály, who made a strong impression on him and became a lifelong friend and colleague. 

In 1903, Bartók wrote his first major orchestral work, "Kossuth", a symphonic poem honoring Lajos Kossuth, the hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The music of Richard Strauss, which he heard at the Budapest premiere of "Also sprach Zarathustra" in 1902, had a great influence on his early works. 

When visiting a holiday resort in the summer of 1904, Bartók happened to hear folk songs sung by a young nanny, Lidi Dósa from Kibéd in Transylvania to the children in her care, and it sparked his lifelong dedication to folk music. From 1907, Bartók began to be influenced by the compositions of the French composer Claude Debussy, which brought by Kodály from Paris. 

Béla Bartók using a phonograph to record Slovak folk songs sung by peasants in Zobordarázs

Although his large-scale orchestral works still adhered to the style of Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss, he wrote many small piano pieces which showed his growing interest in folk music. The first work that clearly demonstrates his new interest is the “String Quartet No. 1 in A minor (1908)”, containing folk-like elements. In 1908, he and Kodály traveled the countryside to collect and study old Hungarian folk melodies, and the two began to incorporate elements of Hungarian folk music into their works.

In 1940, as the political situation in Europe worsened after the outbreak of World War II, Bartók was increasingly tempted to flee Hungary, and finally, via a steamer from Lisbon, he arrived in the United States with his wife on October 29, 1940, and settled in New York City.

Béla Bartók's portrait on 1,000 Hungarian forint banknote

Although he became an American citizen in 1945, just before his death, Bartók could not feel at home in the United States. He was well known in the United States as a pianist, ethnomusicologist and teacher, but he was not well known as a composer, and during his final years there was little American interest in his music.

His first sign of health problem began in the late 1940, when his right shoulder began to show signs of stiffening, and he was finally diagnosed with leukemia in April 1944.

Though his body slowly failed, Bartók showed more passion for the creation of compositions than ever before, and partly with the help of the violinist Joseph Szigeti and the conductor Fritz Reiner, he composed his final masterpieces. 

Béla Bartók memorial plaque, Baja, Hungary

Bartók tried to quit composing as the "String Quartet No. 6", but for Serge Koussevitzky's commission, he composed the “Concerto for Orchestra.” The Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Koussevitzky premiered the work in December 1944 and received very positive reviews, and the “Concerto for Orchestra” soon became Bartók's most popular work.

Statue of Bartók, Makó, Hungary

Also in 1944, he composed the "Sonata for Solo Violin" commissioned by violinist Yehudi Menuhin. In 1945, Bartók composed “Piano Concerto No. 3” as a surprise birthday present for his wife Ditta's 42nd birthday, but he died a month before her birthday, and the work remained unfinished.

Bartók died on September 26, 1945 at the age of 64 from complications of leukemia in a hospital in New York City. His body was initially buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in New York and then moved to Budapest at the request of the Hungarian government, along with his two sons in the late 1980s.

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COMPOSER OF THE WEEK: 15. Franz Liszt

Born: October 22, 1811; Raiding, Austria (Present)

Died: July 31, 1886; Bayreuth, Germany

Nationality: Hungarian

Occupation: Composer, pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger and organist of the Romantic era who was born on October 22, 1811 and died on July 31, 1886.

Franz Liszt (1867)

Liszt gained fame in Europe during the early 19th century for his outstanding virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was a friend, musical promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Frédéric Chopin, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, and Mikhail Glinka.

Liszt giving a concert for Emperor Franz Joseph I on a Bösendorfer piano

After watching a charity concert hosted by virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini on April 20, 1832, for the Parisians who were victims of cholera, Liszt determined to become a virtuoso of the piano, as Paganini was on the violin.

Niccolò Paganini

A prolific composer, Liszt was one of the representative musicians of the New German School. One of Liszt's musical contributions was the creation of the symphonic poem that introduced literary elements to music.

One of Franz Liszt's pianos from his apartment in Budapest

Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest

Liszt died in Bayreuth, Germany, on July 31, 1886, at the age of 74, and was buried in the municipal cemetery of Bayreuth on August 3, 1886. Liszt's official cause of death was pneumonia, which was presumed to be contracted during the Bayreuth Festival hosted by his daughter Cosima. After the death of Liszt, questions as to whether medical malpractice played a part in his death have been posed.

Tomb of Franz Liszt, Bayreuth

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Franz Liszt (1858)

Franz Liszt Fantasizing at the Piano, Josef Danhauser (1840)

26. World Music: Hungary/Romania, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 26th lecture.

I had conducted music lectures at Art Collage JANG in Seoul, South Korea every Saturday from March 2015 to December 2017.

I am going to introduce some of the music in the lecture with a brief overview of the lecture by the lecture’s order every Saturday.

Please refer to the following link for my previous lectures.

https://blog.naver.com/csydr/220995605864

The 26th lecture for today is "World Music: Hungary/Romania".

This lecture was the 26th lecture of “ACJ Music Academy”, which was held on 24 October 2015.

The Magyarok, making up the Hungarian people, has a unique language that is independent of the Slavs surrounding them, and they are characterized by a firmness of superiority for their national identity.

Hungarians have strengthened their identity through their traditional music in order to resist the assimilation of the surrounding Slavic culture while maintaining their national superiority and confidence.

The strengthening of the ethnic identity of the Hungarians began with folklore studies as in other countries, and the culmination of Hungarian folk music was achieved by the composers ‘Bela Bartok’ and ‘Zoltan Kodaly’.

They were not only excellent composers, but also excellent folklore scholars, and gave birth Hungarian folk music into a global music.

One of the representative Hungarian folk music is 'Tanchaz', meaning ‘dance house’.

The music is derived from the traditional dance house of the village, and the Tanchaz is a shabby dance house whose main repertoire is folk music.

The ‘Tanchaz Movement’ began in the 1970s as a backlash against national-led folk music modernization policies.

Musicians such as “Ferenc Sebo” and “Bela Halmos” collected and learned music from different villages along the footsteps of Bartok and Kodaly and introduced them to Budapest.

Romania, which means “the country of the Romans”, is surrounded by many Slavic countries, including Ukraine and Bulgaria.

Around 106 AD, the Roman emperor ‘Trajan’ conquered the current area of Romania where the ‘Dacia’ lived at the time and the territory became a tributary of the Roman Empire.

Despite the powerful industrialization policy of the Ceauşescu regime over 24 years, Romania is still easily accessible to rural villages and maintains a social system dominated by deep-rooted practices based on the rural economy.

This means that Romanian people are very interested in traditional music and have a strong will to keep the music.

One of Romania's traditional music, “Doina”, is the most widely known Romanian traditional music, meaning ‘lament’ or ‘longing’.

This music has a sad mood following a downward pattern and it maximizes sadness with free improvisation and slow tempo.

Doina's lyrics, with the tendency of blues, are poetic, full of sadness, pain, farewell, and longing.

Today, I will introduce 3 music as follows:

1. Hetedik-Ferenc Sebo (Hungary)

2. Kalotaszegi Táncok-Muzsikás (Hungary)

3. The Lonely Shepherd-Gheorghe Zamfir (Romania)

You can listen to all the songs from following YouTube link.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSmshmgJzYheMG7bhp8dTdxGpr8FclfVs

Next week, I will lecture "World Music: England" as my 27th lecture.

Thank you.

Korean Blog

25. World Music: Gypsy music in Eastern Europe, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 25th lecture.

I had conducted music lectures at Art Collage JANG in Seoul, South Korea every Saturday from March 2015 to December 2017.

I am going to introduce some of the music in the lecture with a brief overview of the lecture by the lecture’s order every Saturday.

Please refer to the following link for my previous lectures.

https://blog.naver.com/csydr/220995605864

The 25th lecture for today is "World Music: Gypsy music in Eastern Europe".

This lecture was the 25th lecture of “ACJ Music Academy”, which was held on 17 October 2015.

The word “Gypsy” often appears when talking about popular music in the Middle East and Europe.

The Gypsies are vagabonds wandering around, rather than settling in one area, and their musical tastes also show wandering.

But they did not only absorb local music, but also had an extraordinary musical talent making their own music based on the local music of the settled area.

The reason why Gypsies, settled in many European countries, were able to play a leading role in the development of folk music in their settlements is because they had the natural talent to borrow and develop music.

The Gypsies also had a natural talent for playing musical instruments such as guitars and violins.

The Gypsies are famous for flamenco guitars in Spain, violins in Hungary, vocal music in Russia, and brass bands in the Balkans.

The Balkans, living about half of the Gypsies in Europe, are known as the world's most populated areas of the Gypsies.

The musical characteristics of the Gypsies are the same throughout Eastern Europe.

The Gypsy musicians throughout Eastern Europe have played an important role in the folk music traditions of the countries where they settled, and indeed, most of the music considered as Eastern European folk music was played by the Gypsies.

However, critics have also criticized the destruction or dilution of traditional music due to the characteristics of the Gypsies, who had great talent in borrowing and transforming local folk music.

Looking at Gypsy music by European countries, the basic music of Albanian Gypsies is "Kumpaneia" music consisting of clarinet, violin, accordion or lute.

In Macedonia, the music which is called “Calgia” is a modern electric sound, mostly played by Gypsies.

In Serbia, ‘Brass band’ music is mainstream.

Hungary is famous for the birth of the word “Gypsy Violin”.

In Russia, the Gypsies performed prominently on the vocal area.

Today, I will introduce 3 Gipsy music as follows:

1. Ahaj Devla-Ando Drom (Hungary)

2. Czardas-Roby Lakatos (Hungary)

3. Caje sukarije- Esma Redzepova (Macedonia)

You can listen to all the songs from following YouTube link.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSmshmgJzYhf0znuk5FxsFTLSiwwOGGLi

Next week, I will lecture "World Music: Hungary/Romania" as my 26th lecture.

Thank you.

Korean Blog