Music history concepts and significance

Music History

Rodney Newton (b.1944): Three Places in Old England

Warwick Castle

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Cannock Chase

Rodney Newton is a British composer from the Midlands who has attempted to inject new life into traditional British classical music. Newton writes for school brass bands as well as professional orchestras, in an attempt to revive a love for classical music in his nation amongst the young (Thomas 2008). Newton's "Three Places in Old England" refers to several locations near the composer's region, including Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford.

Zoltan Zodaly (1882-1967): Serenade, Op.12

Zoltan Zodaly was a Hungarian composer whose life and work had profound affects upon his contemporaries. Not only do his 20th compositions "enjoy a place in the standard repertory" of many orchestras, but also his research and cataloging of folk music have served "as models for ethno-musicologists" and his "Kodaly Method" for teaching music in schools is used throughout the world ("Zoltan Zodaly," Sierra Chamber Society Program Notes, 1997). Serenade, Op.12, was written for the "unusual trio combination of two violins and viola" and is often said to, especially in its 'dreamy' second movement, convey an otherworldly and Romantic quality consistent with the composer's other works ("Zoltan Zodaly," Sierra Chamber Society Program Notes, 1997). Zodaly's compositions are tonal, and are considered to be more conventional and melodic in style when compared with his contemporary Bartok.

Bartok still appreciated Zodaly's work, however, and said Serenade was a work "extraordinarily rich in melodies" and was particularly impressed by the slow second movement, which he described as "a double thread of mysterious sustained seconds and ninths, tremolo passages in the second violin played pianissimo and consordino" and "a kind of dialogue between the first violin and viola. The strangely floating passionate melodies of the viola alternate with the spectral, flashing motifs on the first violin. We find ourselves in a fairy world never dreamt of before" ("Zoltan Zodaly," Sierra Chamber Society Program Notes, 1997)

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Trio Elegiac No.1 in G Minor

The name of Sergi Rachmanoff is synonymous with sweeping and expansive works on the piano. Trio consists of one rather than three or four movements and twelve sections with various themes. "In the opening section, Lento lugubre, the piano presents the gentle, elegiac main theme against a soft accompaniment in the strings. Each of the string instruments is then given a chance to develop the theme. The mood from section to section is always changing from piu vivo to con anima to appassionato to tempo rubato and so forth. But in the end, the theme becomes a funeral march, reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's piano trio which also ended with a funeral march" (Piano Trio No.1 in g minor Elegiaque, Edition Silvertrust, 2009).

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963): Morgenmusik (1932)

I. MaBig bewegt

II. Lied

III. Bewegt

Paul Hindemith was a German composer who made use of neoclassical elements, blending "tonal harmony and distinctively modern elements, notably jazz" in his works (Sadie 2005). While criticized for putting art above political resistance during World War II, others have cited his work's celebration of individuality and spontaneity within form as a way of resistance, despite the overall tonality of his work.

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): String Quartet No.5

III. Scherzo a la bulgarese