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Welcome to the
COMPOSITION NOTES Page of
aMUSIClassical Directory
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for good music lovers.
 
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Notes on Major Compositions
listed by composer
~ B ~
- Bach, C P E
Selected
Works
- Bach, J C Sym in g Op 6 No 6
- Bach, J C Sym in D Op 18 No 4
- Bach, Johann Sebastian
Selected
Works
Bach, 101 An
Introductory discography.
- Bantock Celtic Sym
Sir Granville Bantock born in 1868 (London), died in 1946. His Celtic (KEL
tik)
Symphony is based on themes from Hebridean folksongs collected by Marjory
Kennedy Fraser. The work was composed in 1940.
- Bantock 'A Hebridean Symphony
Inspired by the Hebrides Islands and environment off the Western coast of
Scotland. Some 500 austere pieces of land sacttered throughout the North
Atlantic.
- Barber, Samuel
Selected
Works
- Bartok, Bela Selected
Works
- BAX Tintagel
A symphonic tone poem. (Tin TAH jel) an English town south of London on the
Cornish coast near Cornwall. Said to be the land of King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table. Bax spent a few weeks in the village of Tintagel
with lover, pianist, Harriet Cohen. He dedicated the tone poem to her.
- Beach, Amy
Cabildo Opera
- Beethoven, Ludwig van Selected
Works
Bellini 'Beatrice di Tenda
Bellini 'Norma'
Bellini 'Il Pirata'
Bellini 'I Puritani'
Bellini 'La Sonnambula'
Bellini 'La Straniera'
- Benda Harpsichord concerto in f
Jiri Antonin Benda came from a large family of Czech musicians. He wrote a
number of stage works, eight symphonies, many chamber works and several
concertos for violin and keyboard instruments. The harpsichord concerto in
f, dates from 1775.
- Berg
VC
- Berg Lulu Suite
Music taken from LuLu, the second opera, in 1934. A suite of five
movements of a complex atonal composition. It was FP in Berlin in November
of 1934. It includes Lulu's song for a soprano with orchestra in the third
movement and the concluding adagio.
- Berg Lyric Suite
- Berg Three Orch.
Pieces
- Berg Violin Concerto
Newberry novella.
- Berg Wozzeck Symphonic Fragments
Op 7
VOH tsek
- Berlioz, Hector
Selected
Works
- Berners Fantasie Espagnole
1919, FP at Proms Concert in London 1919.
- Bernstein Age of Anxiety
- Bernstein
Candide
- Bernstein
Dybbuk
- Bernstein Facimile
An essay for orchestra composed in 1946.
- Bernstein Jeremiah Sym No 1
- Bernstein
'Serenade'
for Solo Violin and Orchestra
After Plato's "Symposium"
- Bernstein
'Symphonic
Dances' from West Side Story
- Bernstein Sym
No 1 See Jeremiah
- Bernstein Sym
No 2
- Bernstein The Kaddish
A Prayer for the dead and also a prayer that praises God by stating that
God is above all praise. A prayer for the living, a gift of peace...to
help carry on.
- Bernstein West Side
Story
- Biber 'St.
Polycarpi Sonata' Written for the collegiate Church of
St. Mauritius to commemorate the feast day of the martyr
Saint Polycarp.
Biber lived, 1644 - 1704.
- Bizet Carmen
The opera is loosly based on the Prosper Merimee novel about the
tempestuous gypsy girl, Carmen, and her tragic romance with a young
spanish corporal.
A suite was arranged for orchestra by Borne. Bizet was one
of the most popular French composers of the 19th century. He had a feeling
for the vitality of folk music...and had a genius for the stage.
- Bizet L'Arlesienne Suite
In 1869 Bizet hurridly composed 27 peices of incidental music for the play
'L'Arlesienne', adapted from a french short story by Alphonse Daudet. It
was based on the frustrated love and suicide of a young female relative of
the provencal poet Mistral. The play was presented for the first time at
the Vaudeville Theater in Paris, in 1872. There are two suites from the
score of the 27 themes and they are a staple in today's concert
repertoire.
Bizet Jeux d'Enfant Children's games, piano suite.
Bizet La jolie Fille de Perth
Bizet Les Pecheurs de Perles The Pearl Fishers
- Bizet Sym in C,
He composed the sym when he was in his teens. However it was not premiered
until 1935, years ofter his death in 1875. The work was, in fact, neglected for
almost 80 years. It was found in 1933 in the library of the Paris
Conservatory.
- Bliss Color Sym
The eleventh of
Bliss' acknowledged compositions. He distroyed many early works. This 1922
orchestral work of color perceptions in movements entitled Purple, Red,
Blue and Green.
Bloch Baal Shem (bahl shehm)
Bloch Nigun (NEE guhn)
- Bloch
Schelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody
for Cello and Orch
(sheh LOH moh)
- Boccherini Concerto for Cello and Strings No 2 in D
One of the earliest composers of music for cello. He held posts as court
music director at Madrid and Pottsdam in the late 18th century, His output
totals some 580 works. The most popular is the cello concerto No 2 in D
written in 1768 when he was a successful cellist in Paris. It was
published in 1770. It was thought to have been composed around 1760 after
his studies in Rome. He wrote a dozen cello concertos between 1763 and
1782.
- Boieldieu La Dame
Blanche ("The Lady In White")
A comic opera by Francois Adrien Boieldieu (fran SWA' Bwal DOH'). Perhaps
his best known work and his last major work, in fact, he produced nothing
but disappointments after this work, living until his death on a
government pension. He died at his small country home near Paris on Oct
8, 1834. He had a son who was a composer but not too popular, burdened by
the popularity of his father's early works.
Boieldieu Calife of Bagdad (kah leef)
Boito Mefistofele (may fee STOH fay lay)
Boito Nerone (nay ROH nay)
Borodin Prince Igor
Borodin Polovtsian Dances (poh LOFF tsyen) Prince Igor
- Borodin String Quartet No 2 in D
Alexander Borodin finished his first, of two, quartets in 1879. A great
success so he wrote another...and the second far overshadowed the first in
enduring popularity. The second was was completed in 1881, FP in March
1882 in St Petersburg at the Imperial Russian Music Society. (IN four
MMTS).
- Borodin Sym No 2 in b
Alexander Borodin was the natural son of a caucasian nobleman. He was
given the name of one of his father's serfs and brought up by his mother
who instilled in him, love of music and science. He became a Doctor and
acquired a lifelong interest in experimental chemistry, which he pursued
along with his music. His main works are the operas Prince Igor
, The
Tsar's Bride three symphonies, some chamber music and songs.
The second symphony in b minor was very nearly never performed at all.
It was begun before Prince Igor, and completed much later, finally
appearing on the program of the Music Society of St. Petersburg in
January of 1876. Just before the performance date, it was discovered that
the manuscript of the first and last movements had been lost. Borodin, who
was confined to bed at the time due to illness, rewrote the score of the
two missing movements from memory. It was finally performed in March of
1877.
- Boulanger, Lilly Psalm 129
Nadia's very talented sister who died of TB at the age of 24. At the
height of her composing at age 16. With a large catalog of works, her
style
is typical of French music at the turn of the 19th century.
- Boulez Fold By Fold Pli selon pli
- Brahms, Johaness Selected
Works
Johannes Brahms occupies a heady, prominent position in the pantheon
of classical composers, yet he is also one of the most
misunderstood. A great way into his music--with all its
contradictions--is through the lyrically abundant Violin Concerto
Brahms composed during his mature, fertile outburst of symphonic
creativity. Check out our latest Get Started in Classical feature on
Brahms, which includes an audio tour and essay, and let Amazon.com's
experts introduce you to this immensely rewarding composer.
Sale Priced
- Bretan Luceafarul Opera
- Britten
Matinees Musicales Suite in 5 MMTS after Rossini
Op 24.
Commissioned for the American Ballet Co. Choreographed by George
Balanchine. FP 1941.
- Britten Sea Interludes
and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
- Britten Simple
Symphony
Composed in 1934 from material originally scored in 1925, the simple symphony
can be played by a string quartet as well as a string orchestra. Britten
says it incorporates themes he composed as a child of 11 or 12. He
orchestrated the work, when he was 19, for chamber ensemble.
- Britten Sinfonia da
Requium Op 20
- Britten Spring Symphony
Composed in 1949. The words of this choral symphony form an anthology of
poems about the Spring season. The poems range from those of an unknown in
the 13th century to Melton, Nashe and W. H. Auden among others. For
soprano, contralto, tenor, orchestra and chorus. His Op 44.
- Britten Young
Person's Guide to the Orchestra
In 1945 the British ministry of education approached Benjamin Britten
about the possiblity of scoring a documentary film that would demonstrate
for school children the instrumensts of the orchestra. The composer wrote
a set of variations based on a theme written 250 years earlier by another
Englishman, Henry Purcell. The entire orchestra plays the theme at the
beginning, then the four main sections, then the variations by each
instrument. Britten then reassembles the work with a brilliant fuguelike
finale. The film was titled 'Instruments of The Orchestra' and was widely
shown in England. It is sometimes performed with a narration.
- Britten
Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge Op 10
- Britten War
Requiem
- Brown Available Forms II, for
Orch. and four Hands
- Bruch Romance for violin.
- Bruch Scottish Fantasy.
- Bruch Violin
Concerto in g, Op
26 No 1
Max Bruch was best know in his own time at the turn of the 19th
century, as a secular, oratorio composer. Today he is best known for his
Romance for violin, The Scottish Fantasy for violin and the Violin
Concerto in g from 1865.
The most popular of his three violin concertos. The first was premiered in
1866, the composer conducting, the soloist was Otto Von Keninglaf. The
work was revised in 1867.
- Bruch 'Violin Concerto No 2' in d, Op 44
Bruch was born in the Rhineland country in 1838, he died in 1920. His 2nd
VC was FP at the Crystal Palance in London, November 4, 1877. It was
dedicated to Sarasate who performed the work at the premiere. Bruch
conducted from his original manuscript. It was published in 1878.
- Bruch Kol Nidrei Op 47
Drawing upon Hebrew melodies for the eve of the Day of Atonement. The work
was FP at a concert by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in October of
1881.
- Bruch Scottish Fantasy
Op 46
- Bruckner, Anton
Selected
Works
- Burns, Mauchline Lady
Refers to Robert Burns wife, Jean Armour, who lived near the town of Mauchline,
Scotland.
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