A Surprise

[Chaszz]

I turned on a classical music station on the way to work this morning and it was in the middle of what was a very fine piece. All I knew was that it was in the style of the Classical era and I wondered who it might be. Quite a suprise when the announcer said it was by Antonio Salieri, an overture to an opera, Les Horaces.

Of course this may be taken by a certain party as evidence of my common taste which also admits of Bach and Wagner. Nevertheless I will brave that possibility to report an honest reaction to other members.

[Andrea]

I'm glad to hear that they are still playing music by Salieri on the air waves. Thanks to the 1984 film "Amadeus" the long forgotten music of Salieri was rediscovered and brought out of its slumber. Before this film came out I have never heard any of Salieri's music. But now I do have some of his music. It includes 9 overtures, his concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra in C major, and his concerto for piano and orchestra in B major. Thank you Neville Marriner for bringing Antonio Salieri back to life!

[Peter]

Originally posted by Andrea:
I'm glad to hear that they are still playing music by Salieri on the air waves. Thanks to the 1984 film "Amadeus" the long forgotten music of Salieri was rediscovered and brought out of its slumber. Before this film came out I have never heard any of Salieri's music. But now I do have some of his music. It includes 9 overtures, his concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra in C major, and his concerto for piano and orchestra in B major. Thank you Neville Marriner for bringing Antonio Salieri back to life!

I thought Mozart was supposed to be mocking composers such as Salieri in 'Ein musikalischer spass' K.522?

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
I thought Mozart was supposed to be mocking composers such as Salieri in 'Ein musikalischer spass' K.522?

Maybe so, but the fact the Beethoven himself went continuously to Salieri for guidance in vocal composition says alot about his standing in the music world of Vienna. I will confess that I too have been surprised opon hearing a piece that turned out to be on of Salieri's, that is, thinking it rather better than I had expected.

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[Michael]

Beethoven has also immortalised Salieri in his WoO 73, a set of ten variations for piano on a duet "La stessa, la stessissima" from Salieri's opera "Falstaff". The theme is one of those stark and almost unmelodic pieces that B loved to work on, and the whole set is over ten minutes long and very entertaining. It's a prime candidate for the "rare" page.

Michael

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Michael:
Beethoven has also immortalised Salieri in his WoO 73, a set of ten variations for piano on a duet "La stessa, la stessissima" from Salieri's opera "Falstaff". The theme is one of those stark and almost unmelodic pieces that B loved to work on, and the whole set is over ten minutes long and very entertaining. It's a prime candidate for the "rare" page.

Michael

I've been listening a lot to the variations for solo piano and am at a complete loss as to why these wonderful works are not more in the mainstream. Here is some very clever writing and should be more to the forefront of Beethoven's musical output.

[John Rasmussen]

Originally posted by Sorrano:

I've been listening a lot to the variations for solo piano and am at a complete loss as to why these wonderful works are not more in the mainstream. Here is some very clever writing and should be more to the forefront of Beethoven's musical output.

I wonder if there's a prejudice (conscious or subconscious) for music that's completely original, rather than based on another composer's theme. If so, it's a prejudice that doesn't stand up in the face of Handel and Bach, who "took other men's pebbles and polished them into gems." (I forget that quote's source, but I'm sure it was from Handel's own time and thus in the public domain. ) Even the theme of Bach's great Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor was not his own at first.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by John Rasmussen:
I wonder if there's a prejudice (conscious or subconscious) for music that's completely original, rather than based on another composer's theme. If so, it's a prejudice that doesn't stand up in the face of Handel and Bach, who "took other men's pebbles and polished them into gems." (I forget that quote's source, but I'm sure it was from Handel's own time and thus in the public domain. ) Even the theme of Bach's great Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor was not his own at first.

I've been in the process of listening to all of the Variations for Piano. However, I've noticed something odd to me. WoO 67 (Waldstein Variations) and WoO 74 are not included in either of the two "complete" piano variations I own in piano score. Any ideas as to why that might be?

[Michael]

Originally posted by Sorrano:

I've been in the process of listening to all of the Variations for Piano. However, I've noticed something odd to me. WoO 67 (Waldstein Variations) and WoO 74 are not included in either of the two "complete" piano variations I own in piano score. Any ideas as to why that might be?

Probably because these two works are for piano duet. WoO 67 is a set of variations on a theme of Count Waldstein (which keeps reminding me of "Baa Baa Black Sheep) and the WoO74 set is, unusually, on Beethoven's own theme.
These two works, along with a two-movement sonata and three marches are the only piano pieces that B wrote for four hands.

Michael

Oh - I forgot the four-hand piano arrangement of the "Grosse Fuge", Opus 134.



[This message has been edited by Michael (edited October 14, 2002).]

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Michael:
Probably because these two works are for piano duet. WoO 67 is a set of variations on a theme of Count Waldstein (which keeps reminding me of "Baa Baa Black Sheep) and the WoO74 set is, unusually, on Beethoven's own theme.
These two works, along with a two-movement sonata and three marches are the only piano pieces that B wrote for four hands.

Michael

Oh - I forgot the four-hand piano arrangement of the "Grosse Fuge", Opus 134.

[This message has been edited by Michael (edited October 14, 2002).]

Thanks for the info. I need to read the disc leaflets more closely.