Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.20 Context Often known as the ‘Father of the Symphony’, Joseph Haydn’s legacy as a symphonist stays strong today. Haydn composed 104 symphonies over the course of his long and fruitful life, and we at Classicalexburns want to help you discover the stories and music behind all Read more…
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Movement V) Movement V At Mahler’s funeral on 22nd May 1911, fellow composer and friend J.B. Fӧrster recalled that, although Mahler had requested no music to be played at the service, nature had its own ideas: “Only somewhere in a tree a bird sang Read more…
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Movement IV) Movement IV Although added very late in the compositional process, the fourth movement plays a key role in the dramaturgy of the symphony. After the riotous Scherzo, this movement calmly opens, not with the orchestra, but with a human voice. The movement is composed Read more…
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Movement III) Movement III Also composed in the summer of 1893, the third movement was originally labelled as the second movement, as it bears many similarities to Todtenfeier. This movement is the first of the symphony to take musical and literary inspiration from Mahler’s Des Read more…
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Movement II) Movement II Once Mahler had completed the Second Symphony, he became troubled as to where the Andante movement should be placed. Completed in the summer of 1893, the Andante was originally labelled as the third movement as Mahler initially felt that “the power of Read more…
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No.2 (Genesis & Movement I) Genesis In 1888, when Gustav Mahler began working on the first and second movements of his Second Symphony, he had completely immersed himself in paradoxical thoughts regarding death and mortality. Attempting to follow on from a narrative that figuratively and Read more…
Ralph Vaughan Williams: English Folk Song Suite Context As well as appreciating British landscapes and heritage, Ralph Vaughan Williams was also sentimental about Britain’s musical history. Military bands were on the rise again, and thus in 1923, Vaughan Williams composed his English Folk Song Suite for them. Although popular in Read more…
Alexander von Zemlinsky: Symphony No. 1 Context Born in Vienna in 1871, Alexander von Zemlinsky was tutored by some of the ‘great’ composers of the Romantic period – Gustav Mahler and Johannes Brahms. After the premiere of Zemlinsky’s First Symphony, Brahms supported the young composer until his own death in 1897. Read more…
Ingolf Dahl: Concerto for Alto Saxophone Context Ingolf Dah’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra was composed in 1948, after the German composer received a letter of request from virtuoso saxophonist, Sigurd Rascher. Dahl quickly settled on using a wind orchestra instead of a traditional orchestra for the accompaniment Read more…
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor Context César Franck’s highly emotional Piano Quintet sits strongly beside the French composer’s most popular works. Premiered in 1880 by the Marsick Quartet and Camille Saint-Saëns at the piano, the quintet was dedicated to Saint-Saëns. Although now regarded as one of Franck’s best Read more…