Composer of the week this week is Frederic Chopin [1810-49].  His music is beloved of pianists, and many might have played his A major Prelude Op.28 No.7, or the D flat major Prelude Op.28 No. 15 known as the 'Raindrop'.  Find the scores here.  Another popular piece is the Nocturne in E flat Op.9 No.2.

This link is to a video of the Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy playing the Study Op.10 No.1

Chopin was born in Poland and grew up in Warsaw.  As an excellent pianist he gave many concerts and was a friend of another great Romantic pianist, Liszt.  All of his compositions include the piano, and the majority of them are wonderful solo works for that instrument often being very virtuosic.  His compositional style laid important foundations for later Romantic composers, and developments reaching long after his death.

Our playlist in school this week includes Waltzes, Mazurkas, Berceuse, Ballades, Nocturnes, Studies and a Sonata movement.

Composer of the week Jan. 25th

As the previous post had mentioned, we have a regular '. . . of the week' slot in the Music Department.  Music plays in the foyer, most frequently from a particular composer but sometimes linking to a genre or even of a complete piece.

This week it will be Sergei Prokofiev [1891 - 1953].  Here is a great example of his music, well known from TV now, of The Dance of the Knights - part of his ballet music for Romeo and Juliet.

Prokofiev was a composer who excelled in many musical genres and was an influential figure in the 20^th century.  His music is characterised by a great sense of the dramatic and often includes amazing twists of melody and harmony which deviate from expectations but in a very natural fashion.  Arguably his most famous piece is Peter and the Wolf – written for narrator and orchestra to introduce the sounds of different instruments.

He died at the same time as Stalin and although he did have an obituary in the official Soviet press it only appeared on page 116, after 115 pages of writing about Stalin!

On our playlist are excerpts from Symphony No 1 ‘Classical’, Piano Sonata No.7, ballet music  Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Love of Three Oranges and Lieutenant Kije.