This blog post offers a very short synopsis of jazz history. It covers the origin, character, trajectory, and context of the genre.
The Sons of New Orleans
This blog post introduces three influential musicians who were operating in New Orleans during the earliest years of jazz: Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. It covers the contributions each man made to jazz music.
The Unusual and the Simple
This blog post covers Avant-garde music. It discusses the definition of that term, the concept of Modernism, and three important composers operating within the genre: John Cage, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass.
First Impressionist: The Style and Character of Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) invented the Impressionist style of Western art music. For this accomplishment, he is usually considered to be France’s greatest composer. Listening to his music is like hearing the auditory component of a unicorn’s dream about clouds. This is due to the fact that Debussy’s approach to composition was beset by vague suggestion and a tendency to wander without destination.
The Delicate Wizardry of Chopin
This blog post covers Polish piano virtuoso, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849). Chopin had a very distinct piano style that was nothing like the pounding triumph and brilliant glory of Beethoven and nothing like the macho bravado and miraculous virtuosity of Franz Liszt. Instead, Chopin’s piano style possessed a different sort of virtuosity, one marked by a delicate and soft touch.
The Looming Shadow of Beethoven
This bog post covers the legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven. More specifically, it covers the coping mechanisms employed by Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, and Hector Berlioz to deal with that legacy.
These early Romantic composers dealt with the burden of Beethoven variously by imitating his epic scale or by rejecting his adherence to form.
