A Minute with Miles

Quotations, this week, from great musicians and writers. This is from the composer Ernest Bloch: “Real music goes beyond the intentions of its author for it nourishes itself from a much deeper and more mysterious source than mere intellect. It represents a synthesis of all the vital forces, of all the hidden instincts of an individual...

No piece of music is ever just “about” any one thing. In Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni stands beneath Donna Elvira’s window and sings the aria Deh vieni alla finestra, “Come to the window, O my treasure.” It’s a serenade, a love song, and a very beautiful one. But there’s one big problem: it’s a fake.

I mentioned yesterday that by the mid-1700's the modern flute, technically called the transverse flute, had to a great extent replaced the recorder. The replacement wasn’t complete, though: both Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel had continued to write for both instruments. Then again, by the time of Haydn and Mozart, just a few decades later, most orchestras included a pair of flutes, and no recorders.

The flute is one of mankind’s oldest instruments, and in one form or another it’s been known to virtually every culture around the world. The modern flute used in Western classical music is known technically as a “transverse” flute because the player holds it out to one side and blows across a hole in the side of the instrument. Other flutes, such as the recorder, are “end blown”—the player blows directly into an opening in one end of the instrument.

It was a fad that brought the bass drum, cymbals, and triangle to Europe. The fad was for a kind of Turkish military music known as Janissary music. The Janissaries were the personal guard of the Turkish Sultans, and they were famous for their bands, which featured the bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and an instrument of bells and jingles called the Turkish crescent.

Operetta is light opera...or opera light. Its goal is to amuse: to be witty, charming, funny, not serious either in style or substance. Operetta includes lots of spoken dialogue and eye-catching dance numbers, and the musical material is usually appealing, tuneful…uncomplicated.

Miles Hoffman concludes this week's discussion about popular overtures. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman continues his musings about the history of the overture. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman talks about the most popular types of overtures. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman continues his discussion about the birth and evolution of the overture. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.