Biographical Myth and the Publication of Mozart's Piano Quartets

2010 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert Ridgewell

The story that Mozart was commissioned to write three piano quartets for publication in Franz Anton Hoffmeister's subscription series has proved to be remarkably resilient in the Mozart literature. According to the account that first appeared in Georg Nikolaus von Nissen's biography (1828), Hoffmeister gave Mozart an advance payment for the works, but decided to withdraw after the first quartet, K.478, was poorly received. The article exposes a series of flaws in this narrative by locating Hoffmeister's edition of K.478 in a wider contextual and bibliographical framework than has been hitherto attempted. A revised chain of events, based on a new understanding of Hoffmeister's business, suggests a more complex narrative for Mozart's dealings with the publisher. It also prompts us to reconsider the circumstances surrounding Mozart's composition of his two completed piano quartets and the reception of his chamber music in Vienna before 1791.

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-225
Author(s):  
Patricia Novillo-Corvalán

This article positions Pablo Neruda's poetry collection Residence on Earth I (written between 1925–1931 and published in 1933) as a ‘text in transit’ that allows us to trace the development of transnational modernist networks through the text's protracted physical journey from British colonial Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to Madrid, and from José Ortega y Gasset's Revista de Occidente (The Western Review) to T. S. Eliot's The Criterion. By mapping the text's diasporic movement, I seek to reinterpret its complex composition process as part of an anti-imperialist commitment that proposes a form of aesthetic solidarity with artistic modernism in Ceylon, on the one hand, and as a vehicle through which to interrogate the reception and categorisation of Latin American writers and their cultural institutions in a British periodical such as The Criterion, on the other. I conclude with an examination of Neruda's idiosyncratic Spanish translation of Joyce's Chamber Music, which was published in the Buenos Aires little magazine Poesía in 1933, positing that this translation exercise takes to further lengths his decolonising views by giving new momentum to the long-standing question of Hiberno-Latin American relations.


Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) was the last compositional prodigy to emerge from the Austro-German tradition of Mozart and Mendelssohn. He was lauded in his youth by everyone from Mahler to Puccini and his auspicious career in the early 1900s spanned chamber music, opera, and musical theater. Today, he is best known for his Hollywood film scores, composed between 1935 and 1947. From his prewar operas in Vienna to his pathbreaking contributions to American film, this book provides a substantial reassessment of Korngold's life and accomplishments. Korngold struggled to reconcile the musical language of his Viennese upbringing with American popular song and cinema, and was forced to adapt to a new life after wartime emigration to Hollywood. The book examines Korngold's operas and film scores, the critical reception of his music, and his place in the milieus of both the Old and New Worlds. It also features numerous historical documents—many previously unpublished and in first-ever English translations—including essays by the composer as well as memoirs by his wife, Luzi Korngold, and his father, the renowned music critic Julius Korngold.


2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
L. P. Hwi ◽  
J. W. Ting

Cecil Cameron Ewing (1925-2006) was a lecturer and head of ophthalmology at the University of Saskatchewan. Throughout his Canadian career, he was an active researcher who published several articles on retinoschisis and was the editor of the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology. For his contributions to Canadian ophthalmology, the Canadian Ophthalmological Society awarded Ewing a silver medal. Throughout his celebrated medical career, Ewing maintained his passion for music. His love for music led him to be an active member in choir, orchestra, opera and chamber music in which he sang and played the piano, violin and viola. He was also the director of the American Liszt Society and a member for over 40 years. The connection between music and ophthalmology exists as early as the 18th Century. John Taylor (1703-1772) was an English surgeon who specialized in eye diseases. On the one hand, Taylor was a scientist who contributed to ophthalmology by publishing books on ocular physiology and diseases, and by advancing theories of strabismus. On the other hand, Taylor was a charlatan who traveled throughout Europe and blinded many patients with his surgeries. Taylor’s connection to music was through his surgeries on two of the most famous Baroque composers: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and George Frederick Handel (1685-1759). Bach had a painful eye disorder and after two surgeries by Taylor, Bach was blind. Handel had poor or absent vision prior to Taylor’s surgery, and his vision did not improve after surgery. The connection between ophthalmology and music spans over three centuries from the surgeries of Taylor to the musical passion of Ewing. Ewing E. Cecil Cameron Ewing. BMJ 2006; 332(7552):1278. Jackson DM. Bach, Handel, and the Chevalier Taylor. Med Hist 1968; 12(4):385-93. Zegers RH. The Eyes of Johann Sebastian Bach. Arch Ophthalmol 2005; 123(10):1427-30.


Author(s):  
N. Yakovchuk

The chamber-instrumental ensemble music in the Ukrainian musical culture of the last third of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries occupies one of the leading places and is characterized by powerful processes in its development. Such circumstances caused the Ukrainian musicologist interests to the problems of chamber-instrumental music creativity and performance. There are appeared researches in the field of theory, history and performance problems covering the most important questions like chamber music definitions, specific genre issues, the growing function of piano in the Ukrainian chamber music, the increasing questions of technique and timbre importance of modern instrumental ensembles. In the significant multifaceted creative work of contemporary Ukrainian composer, Oleksandr Yakovchuk, the genre of chamber instrumental ensemble music represents a complex and interesting phenomenon. Original and skillfully written compositions reflect artistic world of the composer of postmodern time and gained recognition in music life of Ukraine and beyond. These works are highly appreciated in performing practice of our days. The purpose of the article is to analyze the work — “Little Trio” for clarinet, bassoon and piano (1980), which has the signs of neoclassical tendency in the composer’s style. The methodological basis of this research is a comprehensive approach in theoretical understanding of the subject of research (the methods of textology, source study as well as the method of interviewing the author were used). The scientific novelty of this article is in the priority of its main provisions, since the “Little Trio” entered the scientific circulation for the first time. The three-movement “Little Trio” (1980) is notable for the light feeling of timbre colours and the shape clarity. The Ist movement — Allegretto giocoso — is written in a sonata form following all classical traditions. Quite interesting are the two monologues of clarinet and bassoon from the IInd movement, they represent very modern line in Ukrainian chamber music — the possibility of sincere confession which comes through the solo cadence. In the IIIrd movement, the composer took advantage from the folk Ukrainian dance “hopak” using the rhythm of it and creating dance character of the Final.


1994 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-68
Author(s):  
Karen Iglitzin ◽  
Heidi Castleman
Keyword(s):  

1931 ◽  
Vol 72 (1056) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
William H. George
Keyword(s):  

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 64-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Lyon ◽  
R. Benjamin Knapp ◽  
Gascia Ouzounian

The mapping problem is inherent to digital musical instruments (DMIs), which require, at the very least, an association between physical gestures and digital synthesis algorithms to transform human bodily performance into sound. This article considers the DMI mapping problem in the context of the creation and performance of a heterogeneous computer chamber music piece, a trio for violin, biosensors, and computer. Our discussion situates the DMI mapping problem within the broader set of interdependent musical interaction issues that surfaced during the composition and rehearsal of the trio. Through descriptions of the development of the piece, development of the hardware and software interfaces, lessons learned through rehearsal, and self-reporting by the participants, the rich musical possibilities and technical challenges of the integration of digital musical instruments into computer chamber music are demonstrated.


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