Hofnote Newsletter
February 2010
Hello and welcome back into the New Year. The first newsletter of this year begins by looking at endings!
In this newsletter we want to thank Jenny who asked the question, "What is a coda"
As ever we wish everyone well who is sitting an exam. Why do they call it sitting when you stand to play many instruments?
Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.
What do the composers Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev have in common?
What do the composers Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev have in common – apart from the fact they both came from Russia, and were both composers of ballet music? It’s their interest in writing music to tell the story of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in music.
Tchaikovsky came to write his famous symphonic poem early in his career. By the time he was 28, in 1869, he had written his First Symphony, and an opera, but had not had any great success with them. He had to have a few goes at getting Romeo and Juliet right – the beginning of his original version was eventually replaced, and he rewrote the ending in 1880, ten years after it had been first performed. His music uses different themes to represent the characters and the action in Shakespeare’s play.
Sergei Prokofiev, on the other hand, was a very experienced composer when he proposed Romeo and Juliet as a subject to the Kirov ballet company in 1934. Although they wanted very much to have music composed for them by Prokofiev, they turned down Romeo and Juliet and he went to the Bolshoi ballet with it. They decided they couldn’t dance to it, so it eventually got its first performance in Czechoslovakia – after which both the Kirov and Bolshoi companies decided they could do it after all.
The music of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet could not be more different from Prokofiev’s. This is partly because by the 1930s musical style had changed, and partly that each composer’s approach to the subject is different. Tchaikovsky’s composition tells the story in music, and leaves any action to the audience’s imagination. Prokofiev’s music is designed to be danced to, and audiences are able to see as well as hear what is going on. Later, Prokofiev did organise his music into three orchestral suites with a number of movements each with descriptive titles.
You can listen to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet at Spotify Link
and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet at Spotify Link
Facts About The Orchestra
The orchestra is usually made up of 4 sections; woodwind, brass, percussion, strings. Usually Orchestras are made up of around 80-100+ players and instruments, but you can get smaller orchestras - of around 50 players or less - which are often known as ‘Chamber Orchestras’.
The Orchestra grew through the late 18th and 19th centuries, with instruments changing and also with new instruments being added to the ensemble. The orchestra in the early 18th Century was made up of strings and harpsicjhord, with oboes, trumpets and timpani. As the orchestra grew, the harpsichord disappeared, and in the late 18th Century the clarinet started to make its appearance. By the 1820s, the orchestra included two of each of the woodwinds and horns, two trumpets and trombones. Later in the 19th Century, trumpets and horns acquired valves, which made them much more versatile. By the early 20th Century, massive orchestras were commonly used, though the First World War stopped that for a while.
The Orchestra has not changed much through the 20th Century, except that brass instruments tend to have a rounder tone these days compared to, say, the 1930's, when Elgar, conducting his works, would have expected a somewhat thinner sound.
Standards of orchestral playing increased significantly through the 20th Century, and you expect to hear flawless performances by the major orchestras.
Bill Bailey is just beginning his tour of the show ‘Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide To The Orchestra’ which you can see here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXaHGc-WCus
More Interesting Links About The Orchestra
Here are a few more links to some interactive activities about the Orchestra.
The first one is a Flash Game of the 'Young Person's Guide to The Orchestra' which was originally written by Benjamin Britten. This activity is well worth a look, and even though it's aimed at a younger audience, we still has great fun with it!
The Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra
Our second link is to another resource which helps you to understand the way the Orchestra works as a whole. There are various interactive parts and is well worth a look.
Royal Opera House Launches Competition
The Royal Opera House has just launched its 'Fanfare' competition,. The competition is open to all Key Stage 3 students in the UK, and it is to compose a fanfare of around 30 seconds long.
The deadline for this competition is the 12 February 2010, so plenty of time to get composing!
Link to the Fanfare Competition
Fanfares
A fanfare is a dramatic piece of music which is used to announce or introduce an event. It is typically a short piece lasting less than 5 minutes. Many are based on arpeggios and the reason for this is that they are designed as outdoor pieces to be played with brass and percussion instruments. Brass instruments traditionally have been used to play arpeggio figures because before valve instruments were invented it was only possible to play notes next to each other in the higher register. Lower in the range it was only possible to play arpeggios.
Since instruments with valves have become common, fanfares have also been written to incorporate more intricate music. John Williams’ fanfare for the Canadian Olympic bid is a modern example (see the link below).
Other popular 20th Century fanfares include:
· Fanfare for the Common Man, by Aaron Copland
· Fanfare For St. Edmunds, by Benjamin Britten
· Arthur Bliss wrote a series of fanfares for HRH Princess Margret’s wedding in 1960.
You can listen to a good example here where the brass instruments have also been supported with woodwind instruments.– Click here to listen in Spotify. – The Olympic Fanfare; composed by John Williams.
Fanfares are now commonly used in national and international events, as well as in a lot of computer games and films. Two examples of this are: the introduction to the Star Wars Theme and Shrek 2. You can listen to the Star Wars theme here : Click here to listen in Spotify.
Select Newsletter
Hofnote in the Media
Hofnote are proud to have appeared in several publications including the Suzuki Magazine, Music Teacher and BBC Music Magazine. Below are some links to online references to Hofnote.
