Music Appreciation 101, courtesy of YouTube
Here is a sampling of some music I have recently posted on my Facebook account. If you're not on FB or not my friend yet, join up already!In preparation for Reformation Day in about a month, I am compiling a list of Reformation-era and Reformation-influenced composers and works. Handel's Messiah oratorio has to be near the top of the list, and here is the beautiful Overture. Many will recognize this as the theme song of a popular Reformed Christian radio program.
I posted this in honor of my friend Eric T. Young who daily inspires a love of great classical music within his FB friends.
Glory to God in the highest! Listen to this remarkable performance of Bach's masterpiece.
A truly brilliant and beautiful piano concerto by one of the marvelous composers of the Classical era.
A fun tune by some Tennessee friends!
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Nineteenth-Century Russian composer and member of "the Five" (a.k.a., "The Mighty Handful"), which also included Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin. These nationalist composers created a distinct and unique Russian style. Here is a majestic portion of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. You will probably recognize the theme, which is very regal. Mussorgsky wrote the entire ten-movement suite for piano, and other composers like Ravel arranged orchestration for the composition.
Vivaldi's Summer, 3rd mvt. (Presto). The video is quite "eighties-ish," if I can say that, but the performance is of remarkably high quality. I especially like the double-stops in this song starting at 1:24. A gem from the baroque Venetian!
This is my favorite of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. A faithful Christian, J.S. Bach appended S.D.G. to his works, which stands for the Reformational theme, Soli Deo Gloria -- "To God alone be the glory!" My friend Robert tells me Bach also included Jesu Juva, means "Help Me Jesus."
Felix Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony No. 5, Op. 107, mvt. 3. You should immediately recognize the theme of this beautiful symphonic composition written in 1832 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Luther's Augsburg Confession of Faith.
posted by C.S. Hayden @ 9:42 AM
4 Comments:
Is there a story behind the chronological "dissonance" (shall we say) between the 1832 date of the Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony and the June 25, 1530 date of the Augsburg Confession? Did he forget to mark his calendar? Did he fall behind in his work? Was there an illness that delayed him? Just curious...
...there is a very interesting wikipedia article on this symphony at the following URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._5_(Mendelssohn)
The article talks about illness and lack of a commission as reasons for the symphony's lateness. It also suggests that antisemitism may have played a role in the failure to obtain a commission. If the description of Mendelssohn as a "devout Lutheran" is accurate, that also may have played a role in the snub. I could be wrong, but Prussian princes were never all that favorably disposed toward Lutherans or Lutheranism. They preferred the Reformed instead. Antisemitism was certainly rampant in 19th century Europe, but Mendelssohn's Lutheranism (as such) may have been a constraint on his ambitions as well.
...btw, I noticed there aren't any Reformation-era selections in this blog post. Is it just harder to find such music on YouTube?
Eric, that's a good observation about the discrepancy. I guess it was the, uh, 302nd anniversary, eh? I don't know whose theory is best regarding the delay -- perhaps a combination of factors?
According to YouTube, here are two songs of Johann Walter, Luther's musical collaborator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU5-Pm7mRfo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vV-eKlA_m4. Here is the translation of "Wach auf, wach auf, du deutsches Land": Awake up, awake up, you German country.
Any suggestions for Reformation-era music? Other than Walter's music and Luther's important contributions such as "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," I have mostly found "Reformation-influenced" music, e.g., Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, and hymn/psalter type music. Of course, there are plenty of masses and Renaissance type music of the same general time-frame, but those aren't exactly the most relevant to the Reformation.
By the way, it probably goes without saying that the songs I posted are eclectic and certainly don't all fit into the Reformation theme! :-)
Well, I don't have my hymnal in front of me, and I'm really not as knowledgeable on this subject as you are. But it's an interesting question, and I will take a look when I get a chance.
I think there are probably at least a dozen Luther hymns in our hymnal and several of them feature his own music or music that dates to his era. Off the top of my head it seems as though many of the great Reformation-era hymns we have (by Luthera and others) are on the subject of the Sacraments, especially the Lord's Supper. The music on these pieces is often quite complex considering that they were written for congregational singing. But, like I said, I'll take a look when I get a chance, and then see what, if anything, I can find online.
Regarding the "eclectic" selection...
Yes, well... I was wondering about Mussorgsky's connection to the Reformation. :)
Thanks for the post.
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