Of course not. At least not in my world.
Well, the teenagers my age don't seem to enjoy classical music that much. They tend to play it if they listen to instruments, but normally I don't think they would listen to it.
But I like classical music D: . I've listened to a lot of composers and they are all good!
And......If I may brag......I am pretty interested in the backgrounds of the music.
Don't get me wrong. I like modern music too, but I just wanna talk about classical music first.
Generally, there is no real specific style that I like.
Okay. I might start by talking about the songs of specific composers.
WARNING. THIS IS VERY LIKELY TO BE SUPER LONG.
So please bear with me?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Do I like Mozart?
Honestly? No. I have to admit, he is a musical genius. I respect him and his talent of being able to compose music at the age of 5. The music blood runs in the family. His passion towards music is truly impressive, considering that he composed over 600 melodies in total. And I like how he likes travelling. He is very fortunate that he was able to reach his full potential in music because his family is generally wealthy enough to sustain a living. His family also provided tons of inspiration through travelling through Europe. Without the contribution of his family, he wouldn't have achieved such a massive success.
I have a close friend who basically WORSHIPS Mozart. And she hates me for saying that I don't like Mozart. The truth is, his songs are not my type. I know it is elaborate the stuff, his symphony are very very intricate...but I just cannot seem to find myself to absolutely love it.
His style of music is too happy for me. It's always extremely joyous with a lot of embellishment.
Some examples:
Marriage of Figaro.
Piano Sonata.
Magic Flute.
Violin Concertos.
Eine Kleine Nachutmusik K.525
Divertimento K.136
Everytime I listen to those songs. I can imagine a girl on plain running and laughing. His music is a little bit too classical for me, I guess.
His style is similar with Haydn. Very happy. But Haydn's music is less 'ornated'.
But there is one exception. I like Mozart's Requiem. That kind of opera sounds very magnificent and dramatic. It is not his usual style (at least what I know), so I very much enjoyed it.
Joseph Maurice Ravel
One of my favourite composers.
His style is absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with his music that even my mom can hum out the songs because I play them too much with my flute.
I seem to favour impressionists more than classics because I like Debussy and Saint-Saëns a lot as well.
He seem to have attachment to Spain, because he was born near Spain, and that attachment inspired many of his melodies.Rapsodie espagnole being only one example.
He like pizzicato a lot :D. Usually not many violin songs include so many pizzicatos.
One of his famous songs :Pavane pour une infante défunte is my favourite song that is composed by him. He is brilliant for creating this. The protrait of Margarita Teresa really relates to this song. This song is not for grieve. It tells a story of how there used to be a young little girl who danced in the castles. It's beautiful styles links perfectly to the sadness in the song.
Other than that, I really love his String Quartet too. Its magnificent usage of pizzicato of the two violins, viola and cello creats a unique harmony to the ear.
Concerto pour la main gauche as well as Concerto pour piano et orchestre, sol majeur, are not the usual style of his work. It makes a somehow evil and devil-ish atmosphere. Playing it requires high technique, like it almost has an effect of a demon's lure or Pandora's Box.
Some of the other songs I like are:
Ma mere l'Oye- absolute masterpiece~all the movements have the theme of a fairy-tale~~
Gaspard de la Nuit
Charles Camille Saint-Saëns
DANSE MACABRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am kind of crazy about Danse Macabre. I gives me a mixed feeling of danger and excitement of this omnious feeling at night. I am so enchanted. You know it is dangerous but you are too charmed to resist this sweet temptation. You cannot help but to dance with the devil, and it is almost like you want to indulge in this pleasure and sell your soul to the devil.
Oh my god I love it I love it I love it so much >_
And Saint Saens is a music genius too, starting to play piano at 2 years old!!! And performed with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven at 10!!!
His other music are not as brilliant as this one. So it doesn't leave me much impression of his other songs....i was too amazed at Danse Macabre.
I'll add more to it next time. So much more I want to talk about.
About Mozart: Yes, I think his family was wealthy but if I recall correctly he was repeatedly abused by his father. His father was like an "Asian parent" you see (lol) and he constantly pushed his son in the same way that Michael Jackson's father pushed his son to the limit. Wolfgang did not have a very good relationship with his father later on. I heard he was even blind for 9 days on tour as a kid. He didn't have a childhood like you and me, much like many of the teen stars of today.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I do not mean to change your opinion but many would disagree that Mozart's music is "ornate." In fact, in Classical terms, his music is the direct opposite of "ornate." The Classical period (1750-early 1800s) of music generally exported something called "absolute music", which is basically music for the sake of the sound and not for the expression of emotion, imagery, or any message. The music in this era, compared to other eras, was simple in contrast to say, the fugues of the Baroque or the immense symphonies of the Romantic era.
I think the reason why so many people today respect Mozart is because of the simplicity of his music. If you look at HOW a composer conceives a piece of music it is much more than simply sitting down and holding a tune in your head and writing it down. Take the European composers of the 20th century, for example, like Schoenberg who used complex mathematical systems to write music. Or take Chopin, who scrapped Fantasie Impromptu (I know, how dare he?) Most composers were normal folks like you and I and you and I both know that writing a piece of music is INSANELY DIFFICULT. The reason why Mozartean pieces evoke a sense of ingenuity in them is because they seem so simple, yet they are fresh and "nice-sounding" (for lack of a better word).
PART II
ReplyDeleteIt's like looking at smart people in general: a normal-IQ person is likely to succeed by working hard. An intelligent high-IQ person is likely to succeed regardless of working hard or not. I think Mozart was one of these people. I heard once that he never had to edit or erase anything.
Needless to say there are many who dislike Mozart because of his simplicity and the fact that music in that era typically lacked emotional "umpth" unlike later composers like the stormy Beethoven.
As for the joyousness of his music, I guess that rests on one's preference, although I do not understand (nor do I think I ever will) why some people tend to dislike music based on it being too "joyous" or too "sad." For me, music is the expression of emotion, whether joyous or morose. On the other hand, it can be agreed upon that Mozart was not a happy individual due to his traumatic childhood, alcoholism, and poverty (he wasn't exactly respectful to his bosses!). One of the darker pieces I enjoyed from him was the Fantasia in D minor. Well, it ends in D major but the beginning is starkly un-Mozartean. I didn't realize it was by him until I read his name on it much later!
I must agree that Maurice Ravel is a great composer although I have only listened to Bolero and Jeux D'eau, which is an excellent, if not impossible-to-play, piano piece. I was hoping you'd touch on Debussy as well, since he is probably one of my top favourites. Or Tchaikovsky, who was heavily influenced by Mozart (and it's easy to tell.) Overall I think this was an interesting article and I'm sorry I rambled on so much. I studied music for so many years I figured it has to be helpful in one way or another, and since it ISN'T (glares at stupid RCM people), I will use my knowledge to post insanely large comment posts and boost my self esteem :DD
By the way I do not worship Mozart and I do not hate you for not. The only being I worship is God and X Japan, Led Zeppelin, and stuff like that are played more frequently on my iPod than Mozart.