Music & Culture
Classical Music Posts
NWPB’s Shakespearean Favorites
William Shakespeare – author of deeply romantic prose, particularly memorable and witty dialogue, 27 plays and 375 poems. He also stood as inspiration for many an opera, overture and incidental music. There’s a lot to love about ‘The Bard,’ and NWPB rose to the task of picking some favorites in honor of his birthday – April 23.
Spring Music Moment: Walking and Hiking
The sun is shining, there’s a warm breeze. The outdoors are calling. Or maybe your dog is holding his leash and giving you puppy eyes. Either way, it’s time for a walk.
Spring Music Moment: Tchaikovsky’s ‘April’
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was approached by The editor of a Russian music magazine known as the Nouvellist with a commission – write one piece a month for a year and give our listeners something to look forward to.
Spring Music Moment: Vivaldi
Vivaldi’s “Spring” is one of the most recognizable, best loved works in the world and one of the best ways to celebrate the season. Vivaldi penned his famous quartet of concertos, The Four Seasons or Le quattro stagioni, between the late 1710s and early 1720s. Each concerto includes an accompanying sonnet of unknown origin (a classic case of “which came first – the sonnets of the concertos?”). The first lines of “Spring” perfectly encapsulate what’s ahead, musically speaking: “Springtime is upon us. The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.” The first of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concertos not only invites us to imagine birds singing in a crisp, clear morning, but depicts a rolling spring thunderstorm and a festive dance in the country.
Spring Music Moment: Britten’s Spring Symphony
Unlike his contemporaries, Britten did not devote much of his time to writing symphonies. It’s no wonder that when he *did* sit down to write his Spring Symphony, it resulted in a grand journey in 4 parts and 12 movements, harnessing the power of mixed chorus, boys’ choir, soprano, alto and tenor soloists and a massive orchestra including harp, tambourine and cow horn. Britten’s Spring Symphony takes us through the changing of the seasons and the power of that transition – both as a time of the year and a stage of life.
Spring Music Moment: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel got a much needed breath of fresh air and a boost of musical inspiration from a year-long Italian trip in 1840.
Mendelssohn-Hensel, her husband and their young son spent the entire year away from their home of Berlin and vacationing throughout Italy – stopping in Rome and Venice to take in the vast musical inspiration.
