Dr. Music

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Polish composer Frederic Chopin was a master of both the short and long forms, and one of the great pianists of the nineteenth century.  Like Bach, he composed a piece in each of the 24 keys, calling them preludes.  But while Bach's preludes were introductory pieces to his fugues, Chopin's preludes are pieces unto themselves. Nobody at that time had ever composed a prelude by itself.  Though often short, and based on one musical idea, there is an art to creating musical tension within a limited amount of time - even 30 seconds!  To illustrate how this is done, we shall explore Chopin's Prelude in G Major, thus opening the key to the rest of this impressive musical compendium!

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Imagine you heard a quick, sprightly theme, followed by a slow, lyrical, gorgeously romantic theme.  The two themes sound very different in both profile and emotional mood. Now imagine you are told that the second theme is the first one in disguise! That is the magic of theme and variations, which we have discussed in previous episodes. In the hands of an incredibly gifted composer like Sergei Rachmaninoff, a theme by the  19th-century virtuoso violinist, Nicolo Paganini, can take on  so many different guises that a variation of the theme can become more famous than the theme itself! That is exactly what occurs in the 18th variation of Rachmaninoff's masterpiece, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.  This episode will chart the course of exactly how that works! 

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The German lied, or song, can demonstrate the level of artistic heights attained within a symphony, in the hands of composers like Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.  In this episode, we will examine the lied Auf Dem Flusse, from Schubert's song cycle, Winterreise. By the end of this episode, you will appreciate more how a talented composer does not merely write pretty, singable melodies. The poetic relationship between text and music is what makes these short pieces absolute gems, and why they continue to be performed and studied throughout the world. Discover what makes an art song an art song!

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In Episode 23 of Season 1, we briefly discussed Mozart's Fantasy In D Minor to introduce rhapsodies in music. We return to it in this episode. A fantasy, like a rhapsody, is improvisatory in nature, and doesn't subscribe to any rigid formal scheme.  The challenge in writing such a composition is making it all somehow hold together, and there are many different methods a composer may employ to achieve this.  In this episode, we will gain a glimpse into the mind of an artistic genius -- but it takes a theoretical magnifying glass to discover the hidden threads that bind this piece together! 

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Do you think it's possible for a single  piece of music to incorporate multiple harmonic systems and still remain stylistically consistent?  Often that is more the rule than the exception in 20th century music. In this episode, we will be examining part of Ravel's beautiful ballet, Mother Goose, to reveal how 20th century composers can draw upon various harmonic systems - some dating back to the Middle Ages and some modern - to paint a musical canvas as vivid and colorful as the nursery rhymes it depicts!

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The late piano sonatas of Beethoven are among the most amazing piano compositions ever composed. Beethoven wrote these sonatas essentially deaf, and it was this afflction that ironically motivated him to produce some of the most original, personal music of the entire 19th century.   In this episode, we will be looking at the Opus 109 Piano Sonata in E Major. It is amazing how, through the course of the sonata, how he can not only develop a theme, but a simple musical interval - the third, to be exact!

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Hello Listeners, and welcome to Season 2 of Dr. Music!  In this first episode, we'll be talking about the format of Season 2 in general, and then dive into the first movement of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 - one of the great symphonies of the 20th century.  In relation to sonata form, which was introduced in Season 1, we will gain a better understanding of how the mind of a great composer like Prokofiev works. In particular, how does the emphasis on certain degrees, or notes, of the scale affect our how we experience the music?  It takes a very talented intellect like Prokofiev to discover the poetry inherent in music theory and bring it out in a masterpiece.

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In this, the Season 1 Finale, Dr. Music discusses a subset of program music called the tone poem. A tone poem, like other types of program music, is a musical representation of a work of art, be it a short story, novel, poem, or historical event.  The later Romantic composers like Richard Strauss had a significantly developed advanced harmonic vocabulary to  explore the psychological state of a story's characters, reflecting a Freudian approach to conveying more personal emotions.  But most importantly, this kind of music really succeeds in stirring our imaginations, taking us to far-flung areas of artistic expression, regardless of the program. And that's the real delight in listening to the examples in this episode!  Be sure to hear the little holiday tidbit at the every end...

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Some of the most "informal" compositions are called rhapsodies, in that they don't follow a specific formal procedure.  There is no rule for the sequence of events; anything can happen in a rhapsody.  In Mozart's time, they were called "fantasies," and by the time we get to George Gershwin, a "fantasy" became "Rhapsody in Blue"...a modern jazz piano concerto in one movement!  In this episode we will listen to some famous examples of rhapsodies, and, like previous episodes, learn how different time periods and different composers can change the character of a musical genre.