SKU: A0.549468

Score: 8 pages, solo part: 2 pages, piano part: 2 pages. Duration: 3:10. An introspective and meditative work with a lot of dynamic and phrasing nuance. Works well for church meditations or recital encores.

Background

Op.11/2 Alto Clarinet version. First of all, Scriabin composed mostly for the solo piano and also the orchestra. This is probably because he was a gifted pianist and therefore certainly appreciated the piano. Scriabin grew up in the late Romantic period, consequently, he was fond of the great piano masters of the time. As a result, he wrote his first noteworthy compositions in the manner of Chopin and Liszt.

Forms

Likewise, Scriabin used many of the same forms as Chopin. These certainly include the étude, prelude, nocturne, and even the mazurka. In contrast, as he developed his own sense of style his music became more and more unusual. So, the last five of his Piano Sonatas do not have a key signature and therefore lean towards atonality.

Philosophy

Scriabin also developed a keen interest in philosophy and likewise poetry. He was above all particularly fascinated by Nietzsche, Delville, and Blavatsky. Consequently, he finally established his own ideas about metaphysics and certainly mysticism. Scriabin consequently advanced theories about the relationship between color and musical keys.

Synesthesia

He also may have experienced a condition called synesthesia where he could probably sense a response created from a different stimulus. Therefore, it was almost as if he could see music and hear colors. Scriabin, therefore, arranged the colors in a circle similar to the circle-of-fifths and assigned each key area a color. Finally, he assigned the key of C to the color red, while the key of G was orange. Similarly, he assigned D to yellow, A to green, and so forth. Strangely, he did not differentiate between major and minor key colors.

 Multimedia

Hence, his ability to translate colors into music certainly gave Scriabin a most noteworthy interest in creating multimedia events. Furthermore, He designed his biggest work, the Mysterium, to last an entire week. Even more, Scriabin made plans not only for music, but also colored lights, incense, and dancing. He designed the performance to occur in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. The Mysterium was never performed, and only sketches of the work remain.

Modern Performances

In modern times, we often experience performances of Scriabin’s most famous completed works accompanied by colored laser lights and incense. These are the Poem of Ecstasy (completed in 1908) and the Poem of Fire (completed in 1910). The lighting effects for these early performances were accomplished by the clavier à lumiéres. It was a keyboard instrument that projected colored light onto a screen.

SKU: A0.551520

Sonata in E Minor. Duration: 7:15
1. Adagio
2. Allegro
3. Menuett & 2 Variations

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was an influential composer who worked during a time of transition between the Baroque and Classical styles of music. His personal approach, known as empfindsamer Stil or sensitive style, applied the principles of rhetoric and drama to musical structures. The duets composed by C.P.E. Bach are significant because they showcase his unique style and are considered to be some of his most important works. They are known for their unpredictability and expressive qualities, which were a departure from the style of his father, Johann Sebastian Bach.

SKU: A0.548670

Duration: 4:56 Score 5 pg. 44 ms. Solo part: 2 pg. Piano part: 3 pg.

Cantique de Noël

The French composer Adolphe Adam was already famous as a composer of many successful ballets and operas. Then, in the 1840’s he wrote his most famous work - O Holy Night. The original song title was Minuit Chretiens or Cantique de Noël.  Placide Cappeau provided the original song lyrics. The song was first performed in Roquemaure by the opera singer Emily Laurey at midnight mass in 1847. It became very popular among the French, much the way that Silent Night was famous elsewhere. In the 1850’s John S. Dwight, a Unitarian minister and music teacher translated the song into English.  

Adolphe Adam

In his younger years, Adam studied organ and composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He also played the timpani in the Conservatoire orchestra. Adam used his savings and borrowed money to open a new opera house - the fourth opera house in Paris in 1847. Unfortunately, the Revolution of 1848 forced him to close. He taught composition at the Paris Conservatoire from 1849 until his death in 1856.

Placide Cappeau

The poet Cappeau was an advocate of the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire.  Voltaire was renowned for criticizing the Catholic church, religious intolerance, and dogma in general. Consequently, Cappeau made the Redeemer figure in his song a kind of reformer of injustices, in particular, the problem of original sin. To begin with, people recognized Cappeau’s theology as eccentric, probably even doubtful.

Theology

In the earlier form of Minuit, the Christ figure descends to intervene with His Father’s plan to punish mankind.  Traditional doctrine pronounces that Christ came from love, not to intervene. This version also declares that Christ appeared to expunge the original sin of Adam. Cappeau removed this part from his poem years later, because he just didn’t believe it.  He preferred to portray Christ as the reformer of disparity and unfairness. Before long, the writer/politician Alphonse de Lamartine referred to the Minuit as the the Marseillaise of religion. Most French churchmen agreed with this idea but certainly did not consider it a tribute.  

SKU: A0.549893

Score: 12 pages, piano part: 6 pages, baritone sax part: 4 pages. duration: ca. 5'.

Mendelssohn: Wedding March

Mendelssohn’s Wedding March is so popular that it’s difficult to imagine a wedding without it. It seems like it’s been around for eternity. In any case, it was only 150 years or so ago that the Wedding March came about. It was performed in Potsdam for the first time in 1842, as a piece of Mendelssohn’s music for the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was first used for a wedding in 1858

Mendelssohn Background

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –1847) was, by all means, a German mastermind composer, musician and orchestra conductor of the Romantic period. Consequently, Mendelssohn composed in the usual forms of the time - symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music, and chamber music. To summarize, his most famous works include his music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, The Hebrides Overture, his later Concerto for Violin & Orchestra, and his Octet for Strings. His most well-known piano pieces, by and large, are the Songs Without Words. 

Artistic Standing

 Musical tastes change from time to time. Moreover, just such a change occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This plus rampant antisemitism brought a corresponding amount of undue criticism. Fortunately, however, his artistic inventiveness has indeed been critically re-evaluated. As a result, Mendelssohn is once again among the most prevalent composers of the Romantic era.

Early Family Life

Mendelssohn was, in fact, born into a prominent Jewish family. His grandfather was, notably, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Felix was, in fact, raised without religion. At the age of seven, he was all of a sudden baptized as a Reformed Christian. He was, moreover, a child musical prodigy. Nevertheless, his parents did not attempt to exploit his talent.

Early Adulthood

Mendelssohn was, in general, successful in Germany. He conducted, in particular, a revival of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, specifically with his presentation of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. Felix was truly in demand throughout Europe as a composer, conductor, and soloist. For example, he visited Britain ten times. There, he premiered, namely, many of his major works. His taste in music was. To be sure, inventive and well-crafted yet markedly conservative. This conservatism separated him by all means from more audacious musical colleagues like Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz. Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatoire which, to clarify, became a defender of this conservative viewpoint.

Mature Adulthood

Schumann notably wrote that Mendelssohn was the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the most brilliant musician, the one who most clearly sees through the contradictions of the age and for the first time reconciles them. This observation points to a couple of features in particular that illustrate Mendelssohn's works and his artistic procedure.

Musical Features

In the first place, his musical style was fixed in his methodical mastery of the style of preceding masters. This being said, he certainly recognized and even developed early romanticism from the music of Beethoven and Weber. Secondly, it indicates that Mendelssohn sought to strengthen his inherited musical legacy rather than to exchange it with new forms and styles or replace it with exotic orchestration. Consequently, he diverged his contemporaries in the romantic period, such as Wagner, Berlioz, and Liszt. Mendelssohn revered Liszt's virtuosity at the keyboard but found his music rather insubstantial.

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SKU: A0.549490

BARITONE SAX & PIANO - Score: 11 pages, solo part: 3 pages, piano part: 5 pages. Duration: 4:20. This is a popular recital piece that would work well also in church or school programs.

Mendelssohn Background

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –1847) was, by all means, a German mastermind composer, musician, and orchestra conductor of the Romantic period. Consequently, Mendelssohn composed in the usual forms of the time - symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music, and chamber music. To summarize, his most famous works include his music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, The Hebrides Overture, his later Concerto for Violin & Orchestra, and his Octet for Strings. His most well-known piano pieces, by and large, are the Songs Without Words. 

Artistic Standing

 Musical tastes change from time to time. Moreover, just such a change occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This plus rampant antisemitism brought a corresponding amount of undue criticism. Fortunately, however, his artistic inventiveness has indeed been critically re-evaluated. As a result, Mendelssohn is once again among the most prevalent composers of the Romantic era.

Early Family Life

Mendelssohn was, in fact, born into a prominent Jewish family. His grandfather was, notably, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Felix was, in fact, raised without religion. At the age of seven, he was suddenly baptized as a Reformed Christian. He was, moreover, a child musical prodigy. Nevertheless, his parents did not attempt to exploit his talent.

Early Adulthood

Mendelssohn was, in general, successful in Germany. He conducted, in particular, a revival of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, specifically with his presentation of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. Felix was truly in demand throughout Europe as a composer, conductor, and soloist. For example, he visited Britain ten times. There, he premiered, namely, many of his significant works. His taste in music was. To be sure, inventive and well-crafted yet markedly conservative. This conservatism separated him by all means from more audacious musical colleagues like Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz. Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatoire which, to clarify, became a defender of this conservative viewpoint.

Mature Adulthood

Schumann notably wrote that Mendelssohn was the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the most brilliant musician, the one who most clearly sees through the contradictions of the age and for the first time reconciles them. This observation points to a couple of features in particular that illustrate Mendelssohn's works and his artistic procedure.

Musical Features

In the first place, his musical style was fixed in his systematic mastery of the style of preceding masters. This being said, he certainly recognized and even developed early romanticism from the music of Beethoven and Weber. Secondly, it indicates that Mendelssohn sought to strengthen his inherited musical legacy rather than to exchange it with new forms and styles or replace it with exotic orchestration. Consequently, he diverged his contemporaries in the romantic period, such as Wagner, Berlioz, and Liszt. Mendelssohn revered Liszt's virtuosity at the keyboard but found his music rather insubstantial.

SKU: A0.845135

This is a setting of a Guatemalan folk song designed to be the first 'recital piece' after just a few weeks of learning. Solo part covers the range of 1 octave of the first learned notes of that instrument. Beginning students will appreciate the repeated notes before you have to find the next one. There is a lilting piano accompaniment with fresh descriptive harmony, especially those occasionally dissonant chords when the parrot squawks! A short piece of just 20 bars (but has a full repeat), it comes with the full score plus instrument solo part. Also available for many other basic instruments. Great fun piece for lessons or the classroom to mark those first successful notes.