Princess Carolyne— added an explanatory paragraph that begins:“ What is life but a series of preludes to that unknown song whose first solemn note is tolled by death?”
Set in one continuous 15-minute movement, Les Préludes is a striking example of music built from Liszt’ s principle of“ thematic transformation.” Like his fellow Romantic Hector Berlioz, Liszt liked to take one evocative theme, or motto, and use it in many different guises throughout a work. We hear this motto immediately in the strings. Springing upward from a dotted rhythm, it undulates moodily; answering woodwinds emphasize its three-note core. Military brass fanfares present its first transformation over rocketing strings. Cellos and violins then smooth it into a lyrically romantic strain. To this, Liszt adds a secondary theme: a mellow rocking melody for horns.
The motto theme and its rocking companion move through a turbulent, bellicose episode, then a gently pastoral one featuring bright, birdlike woodwinds. Finally, both themes are spurred on to a martial pace, and the brass fanfares and rocketing strings return to fire a blazing, heroic conclusion.
Instrumentation: Three flutes including piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings.
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 22 IN E-FLAT MAJOR
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born in Salzburg, Austria, January 27, 1756; died in Vienna, Austria, December 5, 1791
For a few years following his arrival in Vienna in 1781, Mozart was the most popular pianist in the city. Viennese music lovers couldn’ t get enough of him, and so he needed to keep very busy as a composer creating a repertoire of new pieces to play for them. Between February 1784 and December 1786, he composed 12 concertos, all of them masterpieces. Although they were created to display his own virtuoso performing skills, they transcended this practical purpose to
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