Music notes

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Jovan Stosic August 9, 2019

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC (French pronunciation: [ja.nik ne.zɛ se.ɡɛ̃]; born Yannick Séguin; 6 March 1975) is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yannick_N%C3%A9zet-S%C3%A9guin

Yannick Nézet-Séguin was last modified: August 9th, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

Da capo

Jovan Stosic August 9, 2019

A contrived example of D.C. al Fine.
Play (help·info) Use of Da Capo prevents the need to write out extra measures, often many more than in this example. The notes are played as: G A B B C, G A B C, low-C

Da capo (English: /dɑː ˈkɑːpoʊ/; Italian: [da kˈkaːpo]) is an Italian musical term that means “from the beginning” (literally, “from the head”). It is often abbreviated as D.C. The term is a directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space, and thus is an easier way of saying to repeat the music from the beginning.

In small pieces, this might be the same thing as a repeat. But in larger works, D.C. might occur after one or more repeats of small sections, indicating a return to the very beginning. The resulting structure of the piece is generally in ternary form. Sometimes, the composer describes the part to be repeated, for example: Menuet da capo. In opera, where an ariaof this structure is called a da capo aria, the repeated section is often adorned with grace notes.

The word Fine (Ital. ‘end’) is generally placed above the stave at the point where the movement ceases after a ‘Da capo’ repetition. Its place is occasionally taken by a pause (see fermata).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_capo

Da capo was last modified: August 9th, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

Interval (music)

Jovan Stosic August 9, 2019

The table shows the most widely used conventional names for the intervals between the notes of a chromatic scale. A perfect unison (also known as perfect prime)[5] is an interval formed by two identical notes. Its size is zero cents. A semitone is any interval between two adjacent notes in a chromatic scale, a whole tone is an interval spanning two semitones (for example, a major second), and a tritone is an interval spanning three tones, or six semitones (for example, an augmented fourth).[a] Rarely, the term ditone is also used to indicate an interval spanning two whole tones (for example, a major third), or more strictly as a synonym of major third.

Intervals with different names may span the same number of semitones, and may even have the same width. For instance, the interval from D to F♯ is a major third, while that from D to G♭ is a diminished fourth. However, they both span 4 semitones. If the instrument is tuned so that the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are equally spaced (as in equal temperament), these intervals also have the same width. Namely, all semitones have a width of 100 cents, and all intervals spanning 4 semitones are 400 cents wide.

The names listed here cannot be determined by counting semitones alone. The rules to determine them are explained below. Other names, determined with different naming conventions, are listed in a separate section. Intervals smaller than one semitone (commas or microtones) and larger than one octave (compound intervals) are introduced below.

Number of
semitones		 Minor, major,
or perfect intervals		 Short Augmented or
diminished intervals		 Short Widely used
alternative names		 Short Audio
0 Perfect unison P1 Diminished second d2 About this soundPlay (help·info)
1 Minor second m2 Augmented unison[5][b] A1 Semitone, half tone, half step S About this soundPlay (help·info)
2 Major second M2 Diminished third d3 Tone, whole tone, whole step T About this soundPlay (help·info)
3 Minor third m3 Augmented second A2 About this soundPlay (help·info)
4 Major third M3 Diminished fourth d4 About this soundPlay (help·info)
5 Perfect fourth P4 Augmented third A3 About this soundPlay (help·info)
6 Diminished fifth d5 Tritone TT About this soundPlay (help·info)
Augmented fourth A4
7 Perfect fifth P5 Diminished sixth d6 About this soundPlay (help·info)
8 Minor sixth m6 Augmented fifth A5 About this soundPlay (help·info)
9 Major sixth M6 Diminished seventh d7 About this soundPlay (help·info)
10 Minor seventh m7 Augmented sixth A6 About this soundPlay (help·info)
11 Major seventh M7 Diminished octave d8 About this soundPlay (help·info)
12 Perfect octave P8 Augmented seventh A7 About this soundPlay (help·info)

Source: Interval (music) – Wikipedia

Interval (music) was last modified: August 9th, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

Erik Satie – Wikipedia

Jovan Stosic August 8, 2019

Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (French: [eʁik sati];[1] 17 May 1866 – 1 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. Satie was an influential artist in the late 19th- and early 20th-century Parisian avant-garde. His work was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism, repetitive music, and the Theatre of the Absurd.[2]

An eccentric, Satie was introduced as a “gymnopedist” in 1887, shortly before writing his most famous compositions, the Gymnopédies. Later, he also referred to himself as a “phonometrician” (meaning “someone who measures sounds”), preferring this designation to that of “musician”,[3] after having been called “a clumsy but subtle technician” in a book on contemporary French composers published in 1911.[4]

In addition to his body of music, Satie was “a thinker with a gift of eloquence”[5] who left a remarkable set of writings, having contributed work for a range of publications, from the dadaist 391[6] to the American culture chronicle Vanity Fair.[7] Although in later life he prided himself on publishing his work under his own name, in the late 19th century he appears to have used pseudonyms such as Virginie Lebeau[8] and François de Paule[9] in some of his published writings.

Source: Erik Satie – Wikipedia

Erik Satie – Wikipedia was last modified: August 8th, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

Coup d’archet

Jovan Stosic July 31, 2019

A term used in 18th- and 19th-century French treatises for a bowstroke in general. It is occasionally found in such qualified forms as coup d’archet articulé (see Bow, §II, 2(iv)). The special term le premier coup d’archet was used in the late 18th century to refer to the loud tutti passage (often in unison) with which so many symphonies began. The device was thought to have been invented by Lully. Mozart made use of it several times, notably at the beginning of his ‘Paris’ Symphony about which he joked in a letter to his father (12 June 1778): ‘I have been careful not to neglect the premier coup d’archet – and that is quite enough. What a fuss the oxen here make of this trick! The devil take me if I can see any difference! They all begin together, just as they do in other places’.

Source: Coup d’archet : Oxford Music Online – oi

Coup d’archet was last modified: July 31st, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

The Flying Dutchman (opera)

Jovan Stosic July 30, 2019

The Flying Dutchman (German: Der fliegende Holländer), WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hoftheater in Dresden in 1843.

Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write the opera following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839. However, in his 1843 Autobiographic Sketch, Wagner acknowledged he had taken the story from Heinrich Heine‘s retelling of the legend in his 1833 satirical novel The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski).[1]

This work shows early attempts at operatic styles that would characterise his later music dramas. In Der fliegende Holländer Wagner uses a number of leitmotivs (literally, “leading motifs”) associated with the characters and themes. The leitmotifs are all introduced in the overture, which begins with a well-known ocean or storm motif before moving into the Dutchman and Senta motifs.

Wagner originally wrote the work to be performed without intermission – an example of his efforts to break with tradition – and, while today’s opera houses sometimes still follow this directive, it is also performed in a three-act version.

Source: The Flying Dutchman (opera) – Wikipedia

The Flying Dutchman (opera) was last modified: July 30th, 2019 by Jovan Stosic