Banish Those Winter Blues!
Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd, And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
By
William Congreve from The
Mourning Bride, 1697
It has been a challenging winter - walloped by snow storms
and frigid temperatures, our spirit needs something invigorating. Why not warm-up by listening to some
uplifting Western classical music which is sure to lift your spirits, comfort
your psyche and improve your mood?
If you, like many, believe that classical music is for
elevators or the dentist's office, you are wrong. If you think classical music
is for old fogies, you are mistaken. Chances are you have heard classical music
in the most unlikely of places, and you did not even know it! A fan of the
Simpsons? Then you have heard music by Debussy, Vivaldi and Beethoven. Watched any Looney Tunes cartoons? Then you have heard the William Tell Overture by Rossini, Ride
of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner, Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens, Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, and
Blue Danube by Johann Strauss, to
list just a few! Been to a wedding? Then you must have heard the music
from Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin,
an instantly recognizable part of the opera is the music that is played in the
bridal procession. Of course, we all know the piece as Here Comes the Bride!
Seen Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space
Odyssey? Then you have certainly heard Richard Strauss' Thus Spake Zarathustra. And, if you have seen The Phantom of the
Opera (1962) or Rollerball (1975), or if you are a fan of horror movies, then
chances are you have heard Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. The first three notes are enough to
induce a spine-chilling sensation!
Remember the 1979
movie, 10? It brought Bo Derek her proverbial fifteen minutes of fame but more
importantly, we heard Maurice Ravel's stirringly beautiful Bolero, and saw it put to some very creative use! And I am sure you
have heard the rousing O Fortuna from
"Carmina Burana" composed by German composer Carl Orff if you have
seen the movie The General's Daughter (1999) or seen a particular episode of
the Rachel Maddow show or The Simpsons.
Countless award
ceremonies, commercials and popular movies use Western classical music to
highlight something dramatic, heartbreakingly beautiful or cataclysmic. After
all, why reinvent the wheel? Some of the greatest musical geniuses have already
done such a perfect job of composing music that invoke a certain mood or
ambiance that it would be futile to try and improve upon their handiwork.
I will readily admit
that I am no expert when it comes to classical music! In order to appreciate
and enjoy classical music, "...you don't have to know an andante from an
allegro" writes Phil G. Goulding. Any classical music novice can relate to
the following paragraph in Goulding's book entitled Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1,000 Greatest Works:
What
is a concerto? How does it differ from a sonata? Is a concerto fifteen or
forty-five minutes long? Everyone knows that symphonies are major works, and I
know that both Schubert and Beethoven had written famous ones, but which others
are as famous? Did Bach compose symphonies? Why is there such a hush when
people say "Bach,"...? Who were the ten best symphonists? And if I
collected one symphony composed by each of those ten, would I then have music's
ten most famous symphonies? Somewhere I heard that Haydn wrote 104! ...
Besides, Haydn seems to be famous for oratorios. But wasn't that Handel with
his Messiah? Did those two live at
the same time? Why does this thing by Stravinsky sound peculiar while that
thing by Stravinsky sounds normal?
If you are nodding
your head in agreement as you read the above paragraph, let me reassure you: in
order to enjoy classical music, you really do not need to know the answers to
the above questions! All you have to do is listen to the music. Do not be
intimidated by all the pedantic jargon! Ignore the bewildering classifications
- just listen and enjoy! Below are just a few of my favorite pieces. By turns
evocative and delightful, yearning and enigmatic, or just simply beautiful, all
the music listed below have given me great joy over the years. I hope that they
give you as much pleasure as they have to me. And, needless to say, the CDs of
all the music listed below are available at the Mercer County Library System.
Author: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791.
Title: The Bestof Beethoven
Author:
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827.
Title:
The Four Seasons
Author: Vivaldi, Antonio, 1678-1741.
Author: Chopin,
Frédéric, 1810-1849.
Title:
Water Music
Author: Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759.
Author: Bach,
Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750.
Author: Schubert, Franz, 1797-1828.
Author:
Mendelssohn, Felix, 1809-1847
Title: 3 Piano Sonatas
Author: Haydn,
Joseph, 1732-1809
Title: Hungarian Rhapsodies
Author: Liszt,
Franz, 1811-1886.
Title: Complete Symphonies
Author: Tchaikovsky,
Peter Ilich, 1840-1893
Author: Debussy,
Claude, 1862-1918.
Title: Trumpet Concertos--Marsalis
Author(s): Haydn,
Joseph, 1732-1809. Other Author(s): Hummel,
Johann Nepomuk, 1778-1837
-Rina B.
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