Wednesday, July 28, 2021

In 1722, Bach compiled a set of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, and twenty years later composed another entire set. They were not published during his lifetime, but Bach lent his manuscript to his students and let them make their own personal copies. These copies made their way across Europe and ultimately into the hands of Mozart and Beethoven, among others.

 Tuesday, July 27, 2021

The development of today’s musical system of twelve major and twelve minor keys was strongly influenced by the work of the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who in 1619 published “Harmonies of the World", his investigations of the true motions of the planets. In Book 3 in particular he describes an actual theory of the importance of the major and minor modes and of temperament which allows for free motion of these modes among the keys.

 Monday, July 26, 2021

Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is two sets of preludes and fugues in all twenty-four keys, major and minor. The first set was composed in 1722, and the second some twenty years later. “Clavier” refers to any keyboard instrument, and “well-tempered” refers to the system according to which the instrument is tuned, and is the subject of furious discussion among musicologists to the present day. In brief, dividing the musical scale into twelve notes can be compared to projecting a map of the world onto a flat surface – there will invariably be distortions, and “tempering” is the method used to minimize those distortions.

 Sunday, July 25, 2021

It's not possible to celebrate Beethoven without doing reverence to the towering figure of Johann Sebastian Bach. Under his first teacher, Gottlob Neefe, Beethoven learned both playing and composition from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, which Beethoven had mastered by the age of twelve.

 Friday, July 23, 2021

Almost ninety years after the publication of Beethoven’s Opus 38 Clarinet Trio, Johannes Brahms composed his two sonatas for clarinet and piano. Brahms had already decided to retire from composing, but after hearing the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld play Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, he was captivated by the beautiful tone of the instrument. He and Mühlfeld became close friends, and Brahms wrote several pieces for clarinet which were to be among his last compositions.

 Thursday, July 22, 2021

Beethoven’s Opus 20 Septet, composed in 1800 and published in 1802, was arguably the most popular of his works during his lifetime. It was frequently transcribed for different combinations of instruments, and in 1805 Beethoven re-worked it as a trio for clarinet, piano, and cello, and published it as Opus 38.

 Wednesday, July 21, 2021

In October of 1797, a 26-year-old Beethoven was steadily gaining a reputation around Vienna as a fierce pianist with a gift for improvisation strengthened by successful performances of his first two piano concerti. Just three years earlier, he had published his very first opus, a set of three bold piano trios that had already expanded the genre in scope, virtuosity and expression particularly as four-movement works after the string quartet or symphony rather than the three-movement trios of Mozart or Haydn.

 Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Today’s selection was submitted by a fellow music lover, who writes,

The Great Nicholas Bruhns (1665-1697). Do you know this man? 

 Monday, July 19, 2021

Beethoven spent the summer and fall of 1802 in the Heiligenstadt health resort at the recommendation of a hearing specialist, and it was here that the 31-year-old artist and composer had to accept the inevitability of his deafness. In the unsent letter known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, Beethoven pours out his agony and despair, but ends with the determination to forge a new path with his music.