What Makes It Great

Rob Kapilow

Description

A fresh guide to classical music from the acclaimed creator of NPR's "What Makes It Great"™

Rob Kapilow has been helping audiences hear more in great music for two decades with his What Makes It Great? series on NPR's Performance Today, at Lincoln Center, and in concert halls throughout the US and Canada. In this book, he focuses on short masterpieces by major composers to help you understand the essence of each composer's genius and how each piece—which can be heard on the book's web site—transformed the musical language of its time. Kapilow's down-to-earth approach makes music history easy to grasp no matter what your musical background.

• Explores the musical styles and genius of great classical composers, including Vivaldi, Handel, J.S. Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, Puccini, Wagner, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and Debussy
• Features an accompanying web site where you can see, hear, and download each short masterpiece and all of the book's musical examples
• Introduces you in depth to popular pieces from the classical repertoire, including "Spring" from the Four Seasons (Vivaldi), "Dove Sono" from The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), the Prelude to Tristan and Isolde (Wagner), and "Trepak" from The Nutcracker Suite (Tchaikovsky)
• Written by acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist Rob Kapilow: "You could practically see the light bulbs going on above people's heads" (The Philadelphia Inquirer); "Rob Kapilow is awfully good at what he does" (The Boston Globe); "A wonderful guy who brings music alive!" (Katie Couric)

This book, along with the music on the companion web site, is an ideal starting point for anyone interested in classical music, whether first-time listener, experienced concertgoer or performing musician, offering an entree into the world of eighteen great composers and a collection of individual masterpieces spanning almost two hundred years.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v

HOW TO USE THE WEBSITE vi

INTRODUCTION

“To Know One Thing Well” 1

1 Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) 5

“Spring” (Movement 1) from The Four Seasons

2 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 26

Invention No.1 from the Two-part Inventions

3 George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) 39

“Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah

4 Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) 59

String Quartet, Op.76, No. 1, Movement 3

5 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) 73

“Dove Sono” from The Marriage of Figaro

6 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) 89

Waldstein Sonata, Movement 1

7 Franz Schubert (1797–1828) 117

“Erlkönig”

8 Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) 140

A-Minor Mazurka, Op.17, No.4

9 Robert Schumann (1810–1856) 156

“Träumerei” from Kinderszenen

10 Franz Liszt (1811–1886) 166

Transcendental Étude in A Minor

11 Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) 182

Scherzo from the String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20

12 Richard Wagner (1813–1883) 206

Prelude to Tristan and Isolde

13 Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) 223

“De’ Miei Bollenti Spiriti” from La Traviata

14 Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) 237

“Un Bel Di” from Madama Butterfly

15 Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) 249

A-Major Intermezzo, Op.118, No.2

16 Antonín Dvor?ák (1841–1904) 264

Slavonic Dance, Op.46, No.8

17 Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) 283

“Trepak” from The Nutcracker Suite

18 Claude Debussy (1862–1918) 296

“Des Pas sur la Neige” from Preludes, Book I

GLOSSARY 307

INDEX 309

Sujets

• Musique
• Musique
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Antonín Dvo?ák
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Johannes Brahms
• Franz Schubert
• Claude Debussy
• Antonio Vivaldi
• Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski
• Giacomo Puccini
• Music
• National Public Radio
• Siegfried Wagner
• Joseph Haydn
• Frédéric Chopin
• George Frideric Handel
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Classical music

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 24 août 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781118058169
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Contents
Cover
Half Title page
Title page
Copyright page
Acknowledgements
How to Use the Website
Introduction
Chapter 1: Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Fame/Obscurity/Fame
The One vs. the Many
“Spring Has Arrived”
Idea 2
The Individual versus the Community
“The Birds Greet Her with Glad Song”
“While at Zephyr’s Breath the Streams  Flow Forth with a Sweet Murmur”
“Her Chosen Heralds, Thunder and Lightning,  Come to Envelop the Air in a Black Cloak”
“Once They [Thunder and Lightning] Have Fallen Silent, the Little Birds Return Anew to Their Melodious Incantation”
In Sync with the Zeitgeist
Chapter 2: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
The Art of Invention: Becoming versus Being
Invention I
Upside Down
The Push toward Home
“The Whole from the Kernel”
The Final Phrase
Constraint and Freedom
Chapter 3: George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
“Forever and Ever”
“Sticky” Ideas
“For the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth”
Orchestration
“The Kingdom of This World”
“The Kingdom of Our Lord”
“King of Kings and Lord of Lords”
The Business of Music
Chapter 4: Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Toward a Universal Language
Op. 76, No. 1, Movement 3: Constraint and Freedom II
Part 1: To Be “Surprising in Convincing Ways”
Part 2: Drama vs. Rhetoric
The Return
The Trio
Constraint and Freedom III
Chapter 5: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
From Dramatic Sentiment to Dramatic Action
The Marriage of Figaro
Recitative
The Moment of Truth
The Aria: The Great Golden Past
Section Two: I Can’t Get Him Out of My Mind
He’ll Change
Things Are Not as Simple as You Think
Chapter 6: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
To Make Music Personal
The Waldstein Sonata Exposition: Anything but “Pleasant”
Contextual Travel
Preparation and Second Theme: “Are We There Yet?”
Searching for Essences: Development—Section 1
Geometric Music: Sections 2 and 3
The Way Back Home
Recapitulation and Coda: Completing the Journey
“Only Connect”
Chapter 7: Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
A Certain Mission
Piano Introduction
“Who Can Do Anything after Beethoven?”
Chapter 8: Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
The Romantic Generation
Chopin’s Path
From Dancing to Listening: The Mazurka
A New Kind of Introduction
The Core Idea
The Art of Decoration
The One Other Idea
Trio
Coda
The Privilege of a Lifetime
Chapter 9: Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
The Romantic Fragment
“Seemingly, but Only Seemingly, Simple”
Form: Broadway vs. Schumann
Saving the Best for Last
The Past That Never Was
Chapter 10: Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
“The Paganini of the Piano”
In the Beginning
The Medium Is the Message
Chapter 11: Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
The Greatest Child Prodigy?
Goethe without Words
Second Theme
Development and Return
The Mendelssohn Mystery
Chapter 12: Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Opera and Drama
The Music of Delayed Gratification
“The Glance”
“The Love Potion”
“Deliverance by Death”
Epilogue
Chapter 13: Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Music and Drama
From Fact to Fiction: La Traviata
“De’ Miei Bollenti Spiriti”: The Art of the Crescendo
Arioso
Aria
B Section
Truth and Fiction
Chapter 14: Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
From Verdi to Puccini
Madame Butterfly
Puccini Then and Now
Chapter 15: Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
The Classical Romantic?
The Golden Years
Heart and Mind: Phrase 1
A Step Forward/A Step Backward: Phrase 2
Brahms the Radical: Phrase 3
The B Section
To Make the Past Bear Fruit
Chapter 16: Antonín Dvo ák (1841–1904)
An Extraordinary Friendship
Folk Dances?
Transition and Theme 2
Coda
Influence vs. Imitation
Chapter 17: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
A Russian Romantic?
The Nutcracker Suite (1892): The Art of Orchestration
Contrast: The B Section
Return and Coda
A “Child of Glass”
Chapter 18: Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
“Make It Mine; Make It New”
Debussy the Impressionist?
A Prelude to What?
The Opening Phrase
Phrase 2: The Art of Reharmonization
Phrase 3: Dissonance
Frozen Footsteps
Transcendence: Conclusion
“You Have Merely to Listen”
Glossary
Index
What Makes It Great?

Copyright © 2011 by Rob Kapilow. All rights reserved
Lincoln Center and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts names and logos are registered trademarks of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.
Recordings for accompanying website and enhanced e-books provided by Naxos of America, with the exception of chapter 2 (Bach), which was provided by Konstantin Soukhovetski (piano).
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
Design and composition by Forty-Five Degree Design, LLC
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Kapilow, Robert. What makes it great? : short masterpieces, great composers / by Rob Kapilow. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-55092-2 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-05814-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-05815-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-05816-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-17198-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-17199-8 (ebk) 1. Music preparation. I. Title. MT6.K234W43 2011 781.1'7—dc23
2011018342
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It is one thing to delude yourself into believing that you might have something of value to say in a single book. It is quite something else to believe you actually have enough to say to merit a second one. For this delusion, I would like to cheerfully thank my editor/saint at Wiley for both books, Hana Lane; my literary agent, Carl Brandt; and my manager, Charles Letourneau at IMG. In addition, I would like to thank Lincoln Center for their continued support of this second book and Naxos Records, which provided the recordings for the book’s musical examples—with particular thanks to Randall Foster, who helped to make this possible. I also cannot give enough credit to my two superb assistants from Juilliard, Nicholas Csicsko and Sasha Popov, who once again undertook the daunting task of making the book’s musical examples spring to life both on the page and on the website. Without their dedication, perseverance, and painstaking work, this book would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank my wife and children, who put up with me as I fought my way through the writing of the book, and in particular my son Benjamin, who read nearly all of the manuscript and offered the kind of brutal if valuable criticism that could come only from a budding teenage composer.
Finally, I would like to thank the many readers of my first book who were kind enough to write to me and let me know how much the book enriched their listening. Their enthusiasm and excitement helped convince me that I was on the right path and encouraged me to continue the conversation in this second book.
HOW TO USE THE WEBSITE
To complement the text of this book, we have created a website where you can see and listen to the musical examples used in this book. Watch the scroll bar move along with the notes as they’re played, or download the .mp4 files to your computer.
To listen to or download the files, follow these steps:

1. Enter www.wiley.com/go/whatmakesitgreat into your Internet browser.
2. Click on the chapter you are looking for in the list located on the left side of the page or click on the link labeled “Download All Examples” to save all the examples to a location of your choice on your computer.
3. Click on the numbered example you want to listen to.
If you want to download the files to an .mp4-compatible portable device, such as an iPod, follow your portable device’s directions on downloading an .mp4 file.
That’s all there is to it. Have fun, and remember, all you have to do is listen.
Also look for the new enhanced e-book edition, which incorporates the musical examples from the website into the text. It is available for de