The Bells of Europe

During my recent trip to Europe, I was pleased and moved by hearing bells in every country that I visited. The sound of the bells is one I shall never tire of. It's a sound that evokes the history and mystery of Europe.

There Was No Music In It

During a brief visit to London this past week, I thought it would be fun to attend a live show. As we walked through the theater district, we passed the Queen's Theater where Les Miserables was playing (and had played for decades). We bought tickets for the next evening.

I was ready to enjoy myself and hear some wonderful things, but, alas, there was very little music to be heard at all! I heard a kind of shouting which lacked any musicality. There were a few brief moments, as when the child sang "Cosette's Song" or one number when the Jean Valjean character sang an extended tune in falsetto.

How could there be a musical with no music in it? Perhaps it's the fault of the composers? Perhaps it's because the singers have done it so many times that it's become mechanical? What a disappointment!

The Saddest Piece of Music, Revisited

Our orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, the "Pathétique" Symphony this fall. As noted earlier in this blog, the last movement is one of extreme sadness and tragedy. There were events in Tchaikovsky's life that precipitated this emotional dimension in his composition.

I decided to practice the first violin part. To my amazement, that famous descending melody wasn't even there at the beginning of the movement! "Where is it?", I wondered. "Maybe it's really the second violins playing that melody?"

I went online to see if I could find a score and clear up this mystery. I simply typed in "Tchaikovsky+symphony no. 6+score" and, immediately, I received the pdf file of the complete orchestral score. Looking at the last movement, I found the answer to my question.



The first note of the melody, F#, is played by the second violins. The second note of the melody, E, is played by the first violins.
The third note of the melody, D, is played by the second violins.
The fourth note of the melody, C#, is played by the first violins.
The fifth note of the melody, B, is played by the second violins.
The final note of the melody, C# is played by the first violins.

In this way Tchaikovsky created an aural effect. Reading further on the Internet, I discovered that, in Tchaikovsky's time, the first violins were seated on the left, in front, as they are today and the second violins were seated on the right, in front. So the notes of the melody are passed back and forth between the violin sections.

Here are some further notes about this symphony: http://www.musicweb-international.com/programme_notes/tchaik_sym6.htm

The author of this article states:
Placing the Slow Movement (adagio lamentoso) last was revolutionary, but entirely logical if you're after a really depressing ending. From the flaming heights of triumph or (more logically) hysteria, it is a long, long drop to the depths of despondency. The stifling descent of strings is a dramatic masterstroke. Yet, alarmingly, this famous theme is only a figment of the modern practice of placing first and second violins together. In Tchaikovsky's day, the left/right opposition of first and second violins would have revealed, antiphonally, the intended intertwining of two different strands.

Well, I guess a lot of musicians know about this, but it was new for me and extremely interesting to study!

"She's going to play THAT??"

My friend, Melody, was asked to play the organ at the end of a Mass. Our string quartet also performed at this Mass. The Mass was for two women who became nuns that day. The organ is situated in a beautiful chapel of modern design at a convent for nuns near Dubuque, Iowa. It's a Casavant-Freres organ -- a magnificent instrument.

Melody practiced her music before the mass began. She had chosen a piece by Olivier Messiaen, a composer whose music is often quite loud and dissonant. This music is quite different from what the sisters usually hear in their chapel! One of the sisters of the convent heard Melody practicing and said, "Is she going to play THAT?" So, someone approached Melody and said, "Can you play that a little softer?" Melody answered, "I really wouldn't know how to do that."

So, she played the piece at the end of the Mass, as a Postlude. The remaining audience applauded wildly at the conclusion of the music. I was the page turner for Melody. I simply could not believe the complexity of the written music. It was a mass of tone clusters, sharps, sixteenth notes!! How could Melody play such a difficult piece? Well, she had been playing it since college, so she knew it well, she said.

The name of this music is:

L'ascension: III. Transports De Joie D'une Ame Devant La Gloire Du Christ Qui Set La Sienne

(The Transports of Joy of a Soul Who Faces the Glory of God.)

Here is a YouTube video of this same piece, performed by Olivier Latry at Royal Albert Hall during the BBC Proms 2008 season.



Here is the same piece, as played by the composer, Olivier Messiaen:

Haunted By a Song

This morning I was awakened by a very wonderful experience. It was about 4:30 a.m. As I awoke, I heard a song in my head. I wondered what the song was. Later, around 6:15 a.m., when I finally arose for the day, I thought about that song and I finally realized what it was: Tide of Trepidation by the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, sent to me by my friend in Sweden on the day that Esbjörn Svensson died because of a tragic accident while scuba diving in Stockholm's water ways. Svensson was a wonderful jazz pianist and composer. I remembered that, not only did I hear this tune, I imagined that I saw magnificent pink and purple colors in my half-slumber. I had not heard this tune for several weeks. This was one of life's unexpected delights and extreme pleasures!

Feeling the Music

Last night, my string quartet got together. We started playing at 7:45 p.m. A little later, I glanced at my watch. It was 10:00. We had completely lost track of time, having been so absobed in our playing.

There were powerful, magical moments last evening, as we practiced a Mozart quartet and read through a quartet by Brahms. There were intense moments when we played together and felt the music together. We were wafted into another world on the wings of music. These were only moments, not extended time periods, but they were precious and wonderful!

I thought about my dreams as a young woman in college. I played with a string quartet there and I thought how wonderful it would be if, when I became an adult, I could play in a string quartet, always. My dream has come true!

So Much Music!

The other day, I spent about two hours talking with some young people (early 20's) who I met at a Japanese conversation group. I could barely understand anything because my knowledge of Japanese is quite rudimentary, but I could tell that the young American guy had begun listing his favorite groups, in response to my rudimentary question in Japanese, "What's your favorite music?". Whereas I consider myself "fairly" knowledgeable about pop music, I did not recognize one of his groups! The truth is that there has been an explosion of music in recent years. Many, many new groups have sprung up. And some of these groups are in secret little niches within certain narrow genres. "Indie" music is one such category. Some of the music I enjoy (Josh Woodward, Stereomovers, etc.) are not generally well-known. Then there are the super groups, like Coldplay, Green Day, etc. that everyone knows. As for me, I have become fascinated by lots of older groups, such as Cheap Trick, Crowded House, and Nirvana.