Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung”: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey

Completed in 1874, Götterdämmerung (“Twilight of the Gods”) is the fourth and final opera in Richard Wagner’s epic Ring cycle. Wagner composed the Ring cycle, which is based on Norse mythology, over the course of 25 years. Its themes include the conflict between love and the pursuit of power, the violation of nature, self-sacrifice, annihilation, and rebirth. Dramatic orchestral sequences occur throughout Götterdämmerung. In these moments, we move beyond the literal meaning of the …

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Milhaud’s “Le Boeuf sur le Toit”: An Homage to Charlie Chaplin

Between 1919 and 1920, the French composer Darius Milhaud set out to create “fifteen minutes of music, rapid and gay, as a background to any Charlie Chaplin silent movie.” The result was Le Boeuf sur le toit, a jubilant and colorful work for chamber orchestra. The title translates as “The Ox on the Roof.” It may have been taken from the sign-board of a tavern. Or perhaps it was inspired by a …

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Fauré’s Élégie: Jacqueline du Pré

In 1880, immediately following the completion of his First Piano Quartet, Gabriel Fauré began work on a sonata for cello and piano. Often, when composing a new chamber work, Fauré began with the slow movement. Ultimately, the sonata failed to materialize, but the intended slow movement was published as a stand-alone piece—the solemn and lamenting Élégie, Op. 24. As with the First Piano Quartet, the Élégie is set in C minor. Its …

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Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major: Lighthearted, Brilliant, and Bluesy

With the slap of a whip, Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major springs to life. Suddenly, a magically intricate machine is propelled into motion. With the solo piano in its twinkling highest register, a toy soldier march in the piccolo, delicate string pizzicati and harmonics, and the almost imperceptible whir of the snare drum, we are whisked into an enchanting world of innocence and imagination. In these glistening opening bars, we …

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Villa-Lobos’ “Ciranda das Sete Notas”: Brazilian Bassoon Bliss

The Ciranda is a traditional Brazilian children’s dance. In the ultimate expression of community, participants (including adults) join hands and engage in a round dance of moderate tempo. The Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), was serving his country as minister for national music education when, in 1933, he wrote Ciranda das sete notas (“Round Dance for Seven Notes”). A single movement concerto for bassoon and string orchestra, the piece explores the sunny …

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Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 in C Major, “Il Distratto”: Music for the Comic Stage

Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 in C Major, Il Distratto, (“The Absent-Minded Gentleman”) has been called “the funniest piece of symphonic music ever written.” (Kenneth Woods) The six-movement Symphony was conceived originally as incidental music for a 1774 German-language adaptation of Le Distrait, a farcical comedy by the French playwright, Jean François Regnard. The play centers around the buffoonish misadventures of a man who is so absent-minded that he nearly forgets …

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Remembering Menahem Pressler

Menahem Pressler, the pianist and founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio, passed away on May 6. He was 99. Born in Magdeburg, Germany, the 14-year-old Pressler hid from Nazi thugs who vandalized the shop owned by his Jewish parents during the Kristallnacht. In 1939, the family fled and emigrated, first to Israel and then to the United States. In 1946, Pressler won first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition in San …

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