Questions tagged [composers]
Composers is a tag that describes questions about individual composers and their works. For matters of composition itself, see 'composition'.
55
questions
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0answers
27 views
Did Vladimir Horowitz ever record Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto? [migrated]
As Rachmaninoff and Horowitz knew each other personally I would have expected there to be at least one famous recording of the Second Piano Concerto by Horowitz, however I cannot find one. So I am ...
2
votes
2answers
87 views
Did Nicolas Gombert compose a clean change of note or slides as endings in his motets?
A member of the Facebook group Barbershop Harmony said that in live performances of Gombert motets, the Bass will randomly drop an octave on the last chord, within one syllable, whilst the other ...
-1
votes
2answers
149 views
Does Mozart use music theory, and if so, what type of music theory? [closed]
I have heard various people argue that we are taking rules in music theory too seriously these days, often taking them as strict rules (such as the use of V-I cadences to end pieces), while earlier ...
0
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0answers
58 views
Finding information on piano pieces?
I would like to know if there is a way by which I can get more information on piano pieces. For example, information about the piece itself, what the composer tried to convey through it, the story ...
0
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1answer
114 views
Why is Beethoven said to be the greatest composer of all time? [closed]
I have always found that there is unanimity in establishing that Beethoven has been the most important composer of all time. In the words of the Encyclopædia Britannica, for example, "The German ...
2
votes
4answers
80 views
What is sufficient information to identify a classical music piece?
I am a software engineer, and I am downloading Public Domain Classical Music. The original filenames are an inconsistent mess, and I would like to correct that. I have some metadata at my disposal, ...
4
votes
2answers
114 views
How would one go about composing a Tintinnabuli piece?
I've been doing some research on the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt lately, known best for his simple yet highly emotive Tintinnabuli compositions. The theory behind it is incredibly dense and difficult ...
5
votes
6answers
435 views
Can an original composition be an arrangement?
Sometimes I'll see on discogs.com a song will say string arrangements by so and so... and it's an original song by them.
Can original compositions be arrangements?
What makes an arrangement?
Can ...
2
votes
1answer
25 views
Catalog for Mikhail Glinka's work?
Is there any existing effort to categorize Glinka's compositions?
Like András Szőllősy (Sz.) and László Somfai (BB.) for Béla Bartók's works, I have noticed quite many sites providing catalog number ...
2
votes
1answer
102 views
Bach Reference in “The Penitent Man Will Pass” [from Indiana Jones]
I was recently listening to the composition John Williams - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Penitent Man Will Pass and was wondering if the first few notes of the theme of that composition are ...
2
votes
3answers
119 views
Mapping from 26 alphabets to notes
For instance, the name HAYDN is mapped to the note sequence BADDG in Ravel's "Menuet sur le nom d'Hadyn". And the name CLARA is mapped to CBAA in Schumann's Piano concerto. Why is that the case? Is ...
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votes
3answers
279 views
Any classical music written for dancing?
I thought about it the other day - Virtually all popular music in the 20th century was written for the dance floor.
Is there any classical music written specifically for dances? I think I don't know ...
8
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3answers
236 views
Unintentional plagiarism while composing
I have recently started composing using some knowledge that I got after a few months of studying counterpoint and harmony (well it is more like trying to compose). And I have mentioned that quite ...
2
votes
1answer
92 views
Examples of composers and pieces heavily using four-part harmony [closed]
As I am currently deeply involved in studying four-part harmony, I am interested to know some examples of composers and pieces, which heavily use the rules of four-part harmony and not wildly (...
4
votes
1answer
48 views
Is there a way to record music with a collaborator remotely and live?
Is there a way to record music with a collaborator remotely and live? Appreciate the help!
1
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0answers
182 views
Did Beethoven write any modes other than the Ionian / Aeolian / Lydian modes?
The Ionian and the Aeolian modes are considered major and natural minor keys, and all composers used these modes all the time, including Beethoven, who also wrote Lydian mode in one of his string ...
0
votes
3answers
103 views
To compose music, do you have to be able to hear?
I am asking this question out of sheer curiosity. Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf but still made some amazing songs. Just like Beethoven, do your ears have to work normally (Like not deaf), to be able ...
1
vote
1answer
127 views
What did Ligeti mean by 'shimmering effect'?
Stephen A. Taylor, Chopin, Pygmies, and Tempo Fugue: Ligeti's "Automne a Varsovie", Vol 3.3., Online Journal of the Society for Music Theory.
I looked up 'shimmering' on ODO. David Bruce explains ...
3
votes
3answers
259 views
Combining forms to make a new musical form
Has there ever been a composer between Baroque and early Romantic periods (within piano literature) who created a new form based on a combination of previously separate forms into a new iteration or ...
-1
votes
2answers
703 views
Is it possible that Beethoven (after turning deaf) “heard” all of his symphonies in a different key? [closed]
According to this article on cmuse.org,
Even though Mozart is the only Western musician and composer who was explicitly acknowledged as having perfect pitch, Bach, Händel, Chopin and Beethoven are ...
1
vote
2answers
521 views
minimalist compositions [closed]
Thanks for all the responses. It struck me that the work of Reich and Glass was/is mathematical in arrangement. If LaMonte Young and Terry Riley started the movement on the coast then Reich and Glass ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
Who did introduce the mediant keys in to music harmony progression?
Which composer(s) introduced as the first time mediant chords and mediant keys in their compositions - or in which period the use of this kind of modulation was coming up?
4
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3answers
2k views
are there piano pieces where the hands play in different keys?
Do you know music for piano where the two hands don't have to play in the same key?
2
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3answers
398 views
Distinguish music devices: Sequencer, Launchpad, Sampler, Synthesizer
I've been having a hard time figuring out function of these below music devices:
1. Beatstep sequencer
2. Launchpad | Ableton Push
3. Sampler
4. Sequencer
5. Synthesizer
For example, if I use ...
1
vote
0answers
262 views
How to describe unmistakable similarity in two Andrew Lloyd Webber songs?
So, I'm a very elementary music student with a theatrical background, and I want to ask a professor about what I hear as a very marked similarity between a couple of songs from different Andrew Lloyd ...
1
vote
1answer
109 views
Has anyone else composed for the Mahler Hammer?
The title pretty much sums it up: Has anyone else (other than the composer for whom it's named) written music that incorporates the "Mahler Hammer™"?
Some more links:
Walt Martin's blog about ...
2
votes
1answer
94 views
Single composer sheet music book — name on each piece?
It seems that whenever there is an album (book of sheet music) and all the pieces are from a single composer, the name is not repeated with each piece.
I wonder, is this a strict rule? Especially, ...
14
votes
6answers
5k views
Why do music directors use keyboard (or similar) instruments for composing music?
I have seen that most of the film music directors use keyed music instruments for composing music. I hardly saw directors use other instruments like strings or wind instruments for the same. What ...
13
votes
1answer
3k views
Why is Debussy's remark brilliant (on going out and smoking, at the start of Beethoven's developments)?
From: Charles Rosen. Critical Entertainments. p. 117 Bottom - 118 Top.
In the same way, attacks on Beethoven could be profound and even persuasive, and would continue to be so after his death ...
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2answers
145 views
Industry Standard for Psychological Mapping of Emotion to Musical Keys
I have found several references to map a key to a psychological feeling or psyche archetype. Is there an industry standard for musical scoring?
2
votes
1answer
371 views
How much math did Iannis Xenakis understand?
Paul Griffiths wrote on 2011 Feb 5:
Iannis Xenakis, the Greek-French composer who often used highly sophisticated scientific and mathematical theories to arrive at music of primitive power [...] ...
0
votes
1answer
242 views
How much math did Pierre Boulez understand?
David Schiff MM (Manhattan School of Music, 1974), DMA (Juilliard, 1979) labels him mathematician:
I would propose a different model of Boulez's career: the typical trajectory of a mathematical ...
1
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2answers
299 views
Can one's musical ‘ear’ be trained with practice and dedication? [duplicate]
These great composers of the past: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and my personal favourite Elgar, all lived in a time where they had only a piano to work out their various symphonies ...
4
votes
1answer
140 views
Messiaen Prelude Colors
According to wikipedia, each of Messiaen's 8 preludes is associated with various colors.
1 La colombe (The dove) Orange, with violet veins.
2 Chant d'extase dans un paysage triste (Song of ...
0
votes
1answer
71 views
Piano finger apparatus in history or film
Can anyone recall the movie where a piano player was using an apparatus to strengthen (or stretch) their ring finger. I keep picturing AMADEUS but i can't find references. If not, does any one know of ...
1
vote
1answer
185 views
Missing works by Sylvius Leopold Weiss
I recently heard the Chaconne in G minor by Weiss, a guitar transcription, and started looking about/for it. According to Wikipedia it seems that it is part of a full Sonata in G minor but even though ...
4
votes
2answers
387 views
Do there exist contemporary composers writing in the style of Viennese classical music?
Do there exist known contemporary composers who work in the style of the so-called Viennese classical period, and if so, who?
2
votes
2answers
131 views
New technology being studied or developed to record the song in our heads?
As composers we sometimes imagine a whole song with drums, bass, guitar, keys and vocal melodies in our head, but usually in the process of composing we sometimes lose what we were thinking.
Is there ...
10
votes
6answers
2k views
How do composers get their works performed?
How do composers (professional or not) get their works performed by orchestras and soloists?
While we're at it, how and where do composers publish their music and where do orchestras/musicians/...
1
vote
3answers
3k views
Getting the piece out of your head
Many have noticed, I guess, that when you make up a song in your head you can hear many aspects, lots of instruments, different melodies and sometimes create a full arrangement.
Most of this can lead ...
2
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2answers
652 views
Deja-vu composers
I'm having trouble with composing music sometimes. The problem is that i very often feel that i'm copying someone, somebody's melody, harmony, rhythm, chord progression or arrpegio. I think many ...
5
votes
3answers
252 views
What is the earliest instance of a composer/theorist publishing an analysis of his/her own music?
In the final chapter of his Harmonielehre, Arnold Schoenberg analyzes a brief passage from his own compositional output. (You can find it here, on written page 418 [page 432 of the PDF].)
I'm looking ...
9
votes
5answers
6k views
slur options in sheet music
In sheet music, composers use a slur to put together consecutive notes. There seem to be two kinds of slurs: one with a solid line and the other broken. My question is: when does a composer use a ...
1
vote
2answers
1k views
Double Harmonic (Ultraphrygian) Examples [closed]
Around 2 years ago i accidentally discovered Phrygian #3 #7 while jamming and found out with some research, that it apears to be called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_harmonic_scale. Since then ...
4
votes
5answers
1k views
What's the correct term for a 'professional' composer?
The orchestra I play in is planning to commission a piece of music for our 50th anniversary concert in 2017. We've commissioned music in the past, and had music written for us, by amateur composers. ...
3
votes
4answers
266 views
Which keyboard works - beside Bach's - are part of the study curriculum *and* regularly performed in public?
Bach has written a huge body of keyboard music that ranges from "easy peasy" (Anna Magdalena) to "inhuman" (the ol' prelude & fugue).
A significant part of it is both popular with public ...
asked Mar 10 '15 at 12:02
Some Dude On The Interwebs
2,2761 gold badge11 silver badges33 bronze badges
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2answers
11k views
(Post)-minimalist compositional techniques
I was wondering if anyone out there knew of any techniques associated with the minimalist tradition. I've been really interested in the philosophical notion of minimalism over the last few months or ...
26
votes
11answers
12k views
Where do musicians draw their melodies from?
It has been in my head for so long.
I am a visual artist, animator, I do motion graphics, 3D artwork and most of my work is done visually.
I am puzzled by this question.
Visual artists, they draw ...
7
votes
1answer
336 views
Iannis Xenakis' Artistic Aesthetic and Public Perception
Did Iannis Xenakis write any music with intentions beyond absolute music? For example, music paired with other forms of art?
For example, Terretektorh (diagram pictured below) illustrates that ...
25
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4answers
7k views
As a composer, should I be composing music for an instrument I don't play?
I wanted to know if composing music for a specific instrument demands that you know how to at least play the instrument. I'm sure if you know how the instrument sounds by itself as well as within an ...
