Adapted from an essay I wrote in first year, I've decided to share why I agree with Charles Rosen's statement.
Enjoy.
Kirsty Morgan Music Blog |
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In his book, The Classical Style, Charles Rosen describes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s operas as ‘among the greatest in the genre’. His skill at capturing the nuances of his characters’ personalities and moods is particularly prominent in Le nozze di Figaro (1786), a three-hour-long opera buffa (comedic opera) in four acts. From the famous overture onwards, this fast-paced and exciting score immerses the audience in the hectic events of one crazy day in the lives of these characters. Adapted from an essay I wrote in first year, I've decided to share why I agree with Charles Rosen's statement. Enjoy.
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Studying certainly isn't always fun, but I found a way to make my final day before my History of Music exam a heck of a lot more entertaining. Internal monologues! Introducing: Studious brain and ANTI-STUDIOUS BRAIN! I've been studying Wagner's Ring. Here's what I've learnt... or rather not learnt, as the case may be... The history of opera is a long and complex one; however the seventeenth century is widely considered to be one of the most significant periods of operatic development. Seventeenth-century composers created the foundations of opera which later composers followed and developed upon.
I’ve decided to explore the operas of three composers who heavily influenced certain aspects of operatic tradition which have continued to this day. Enjoy! Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer and his Russian background is evident in his music. However, he was also clearly more inclined towards the European style than many of his Russian contemporaries. This made him unpopular amongst some of them – in particular, the Mighty Five: a group of Russian composers who, like Tchaikovsky, admired Western music but wanted to produce specifically Russian art music rather than relying upon older European styles. I've decided to create an analysis of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, focusing particularly on how he incorporated his Slavic background into his compositions, while also charting Tchaikovsky’s development as a composer. Enjoy. International Women’s Day has been observed since the beginning of the twentieth century and has been gaining popularity ever since. As a white, middle-class, Scottish university student, it’s sometimes all too easy for me to naïvely view gender inequality as a thing of the past. I forget that, outside my sheltered life, there are women being abused, harassed, dominated, mistreated, penalised and put down every single day based on a stupid prejudice.
International Women’s Day is an effective tool for reminding thoughtless people (like me) that there is still a long way to go before gender equality is a worldwide norm. We have yet to reach the stage where the idea of abusing someone based on their gender is as outdated and bizarre as the thought of abusing someone because of their hair colour. Until that equality is achieved, I believe that International Women’s Day is a valuable and important holiday. In honour of International Women’s Day, I have decided to take a look at a few prominent females who made interesting contributions towards the development of Western music as it is today. Enjoy. |
Go ToBlog Index AuthorKirsty Morgan is a Glaswegian pianist, flautist, singer and musicologist. She is currently studying for a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Aberdeen with hopes of becoming a music historian and journalist after she graduates. Archives
June 2013
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