Creating themed music events

[Dave2002]

i occasionally present evenings of recorded music to a local music society. Sometimes there is a definite theme.

I wonder if others try to create compilations of music which work around one or more themes. Sometimes the effort leads to some interesting discoveries. For example, a current theme is "summer", and one quite quickly discovers that one composer - Delius - seems to have written more pieces centred on summer than anyone else - In a Summer Garden, Song of Summer, To be sung on a summer night on the river, Summer night on the river. Others have also written music related to summer - and I'm deliberately neglecting Vivaldi - examples include Bax, Frank Bridge, Finzi, Tchaikovksy, Grieg and Glazunov, while Beethoven's 6th Symphony can clearly be related, and it may also be of interest to compare that symphony with some parts of Haydn's "The Seasons."

A usual problem is that as one builds up the programme it eventually becomes too long, and potential items have to be cut out, and then there is the temptation to sneak in some new discoveries, perhaps at a late stage, which brings the length problem back.

The whole process of putting together such a compilation can take quite a long time - far in excess of the eventual running time, as pieces are sampled, and listened to. Different versions of the same piece may also be sampled, and discovered to have quite different characteristics, plus one can get side tracked into other music which will never end up on the programme.

It might of course be more reasonable to have more than one theme, and contrast them, or even to have intertwined themes which don't interact, thus Love/Hate could be intertwined with works by (say) Couperin, or another theme could be music for cello.

If you've never tried this you might find it entertaining to give the exercise a go. Here are a few suggestions for themes to get started:

Summer

Water

Heavenly bodies

Anger

[mercia]

.......... so, out of interest, what would you play for Anger ? Dies Irae, Rage over a lost Euro, ....... erm .....

[umslopogaas]

Anger ...

The Queen of the Night's "Flames of hell" aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute. I'm tempted to say sung by Florence Foster Jenkins, but maybe not unless you want to clear the hall so you can go home.

The last fifteen minutes or so of Cherubini's Medea, sung by Maria Callas.

The scene in Die Walkure where Wotan kills Hunding, then says something like "now where is that damn woman?" and storms off after Brunnhilde.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I planned a teaching module based on the theme of War and Peace in the 1990s. Lots of listening/ performing material and great potential for composition.

[Serial_Apologist]

Anger ...

The Queen of the Night's "Flames of hell" aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute. I'm tempted to say sung by Florence Foster Jenkins, but maybe not unless you want to clear the hall so you can go home.

The last fifteen minutes or so of Cherubini's Medea, sung by Maria Callas.

The scene in Die Walkure where Wotan kills Hunding, then says something like "now where is that damn woman?" and storms off after Brunnhilde.

Schoenberg's "Ode to Napoleon"
Henze's 7th symphony - and a lot of other pieces by him.

Depping once for a jazz musician I did a talk to some students on American jazz musicians visiting or living in Britain - American students, funnily enough. The other illustrated talk I gave to them, on a subject of my own choice, was on early electronic musical instruments and the beginnings of electronica in modern classical music. They all sat there staring balefully at me as if to say, "C'mon man, impress us!". At least I got paid handsomely!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Opera North are presenting a "Twighlight Concert" on Weds. June 25th on the topic of "Freedom":

A vibrant twilight concert from the massed voice of the Chorus of Opera North. From the bravura Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen, to Verdi’s Gypsy Chorus, this is the music of hot summer nights and an escape from the conventions of society.

A celebration of visions of individual freedom in the 19th century imagination and beyond, the vagabond life and the open road come to life in an exhilarating range of choruses and songs by composers also including Schumann, Kodály and Brahms.

Featuring members of the Orchestra of Opera North.

[doversoul1]

Here’s an excellent source for any themed music event. Not terribly user-friendly though.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?532-Classical-Music-Association-Thread

[Petrushka]

If it's anger you want then lots of Shostakovich fits the bill but most especially the 8th movement of the Symphony No 14: 'The Zaporozhian Cossacks' Answer to the Sultan of Constantinople'.

For both Summer and water try the Ritual Dances from A Midsummer Marriage by Tippett

[Dave2002]

Odd actually how a lot of music for summer would not automatically conjure that concept up if played in isolation. Frank Bridge's Summer, Delius Song of Summer for example. What is summer anyway - what characterises it? Heat? Sun? Idleness? Bird song? Storms? Perhaps Vivaldi and Beethoven really did do it the best after all.

Also some songs, such as Finzi's Summer Schemes, which set words by famous poets (e.g Thomas Hardy) are actually pretty incomprehensible if one looks at the text! Madness I call it.

Until now this year that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid song might have been more appropriate for summer round here.

OK - time for another two - chosen at random :

Train timetables

Mountains (I bet I can guess one here ...)

[Serial_Apologist]

Train timetables

Take the A Train