A brief introduction to: Modest Mussorgskij - Pictures At An Exhibition

One of the finest and at the same time most challenging works for Piano solo of the 19th century is for sure Modest Mussorgskij's work "Pictures At An Exhibition" of 1874.

Modest Mussorgskij

Russian composer Mussorgskij (1839-1881) created this Piano-Suite in the memory of his friend, the architect Viktor Hartmann (1834-1873), whom he first met in St. Petersburg. Hartmann was not only a good architect -among other things, he created the monument for the thousandth anniversary of Russia in Nowgorod- he was also a talented illustrator of books, a designer and a painter of watercolors.

Viktor Hartmann

When Hartmann died in 1873 some of his friends organized a commemorative exhibition with approx. 400 exhibits of his works. Mussorgskij was so impressed by this exhibition, that he decided to create also a musical monument for his friend in addition to the mentioned exhibition. So he composed a Suite for Piano Solo, in which he transformed ten of Hartmann's works into his very own musical language.

The whole work is very similar to a real visit of an exhibition. The visitor steps into the room and at the same time he is caught by the magic atmosphere of the exhibition, which is represented by the motif of the "Promenade". It is believed, that Mussorgskij, a very corpulent person, was imitating his own clumsy walk in the rhythmical change of the 5/4- and 6/4-time. But nevertheless this introducing version of the "Promenade" sounds also very majestic in the flow of the melody.

In a way, the Promenade builds the link between the different pictures, but its character changes, depending on the impression, the viewer gets from a certain picture. After the visitor has stepped in, he immediately sees from the distance the grotesque picture of the "Gnome" (in the original picture, which unfortunately is lost, it was some kind of a nutcracker). For that reason the music continues without a pause, immediately after the "Promenade" has ended. With wild and abrupt stopping rhythmical 1/8-Figures Mussorgskij describes, how the Gnomus is bopping around, falling down and getting up at once.

At the end he is just running away, which is also described in the last very fast sequence of 1/8-notes.

Audio MIDI: Promenade - Gnomus

The second version of the "Promenade" heralds the next picture. This time, however, the character has changed from a clumsy "forte" to a very silent and lyrical way and refers just to the next picture. "The Old Castle" is the second picture of the work. A troubadour in front of the window of an old castle is singing a moving tune for his beloved maid. In the first bars the listener can imagine how the young fellow is playing his lute, before,in the melody, he begins singing his ode.

But unfortunately Mussorgskij does not allow us listeners to find out, if the Troubadour succeeded in the end...

Audio MIDI: Promenade - The Old Castle

After this more quiet and peaceful scenery, the visitor continues his walk around the exhibition, once again characterized by the "Promenade", but which is now sounding much more vivid than before. "Tuileries" describes the goings around the Tuileries in Paris. Children are playing, running around, hunting themselves and are laughing and screaming, while their governesses try to repress them.

Audio MIDI: Promenade - Tuileries

The following picture comes along without an introducing version of the Promenade, which may come from the fact, that it is located just besides the previous, so that the viewer has only to move his head to have a look on it. "Bydło" describes with its clumsy and monotonous bass-figure the oxcart of a polish farmer, which first is approaching the viewer, then is passing him by with a lot of noise and finally vanishes in the distance.

The expressive dynamic composition of the crescendo-decrescendo-effect very vividly gives us the illusion of this oxcart, moving from one side to the other.

Audio MIDI: Bydło

Again the visitor moves on to the next picture, the "Promenade" is now sounding very thoughtfully. But this time, before it is really coming to its end, it is suddenly interrupted by the beginning motif of the next picture. The viewer seems to be teared out of his thoughts, while he is approaching the next picture.

"The Ballet Of the Unhatched Chicks" surely is the funniest picture of all. The stimulus to this picture Mussorgskij got by Hartmann's sketches for the ballet Trilbi of the composer Julius Gerber and the choreographer Marius Petipa.

Sketch for the ballet "Trilbi"

Happily cheeping, the chicks are scampering around. Their cheeping is descriptively set into music by using a lot of grace notes.

Audio MIDI: Promenade - The Ballet Of the Unhatched Chicks

The following picture once again seems to be located just besides the previous, because again Mussorgskij did it without a linking Promenade. "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle" describes the quarrel between two old jews.

Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

The first is angrily mumbling (which can be heard in the bass-line), while the other is making fun of him (which is described in the upper voice).

...

The whole scenery ends with a final punch line, it seems, that they have split forever.

Audio MIDI: Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

The following "Promenade" is very similar to the very first one, but now it seems to be much fresher and lively. This Promenade directly leads us to the "Marketplace in Limoges". In this picture Mussorgskij shows us quite plainly the jumble on a french marketplace: Chandlers, who are offering their products, women, who are bargaining for the cheapest prices, children playing around, barking dogs and ballad-mongers...

The wild scenery abruptly leads into the sacral silence of the "Catacombs ". Like a director in a movie is cutting a film sequence, Mussorgskij abruptly changes the setting and the listener finds himself in the underworld of Paris.

In the Catacombs of Paris

The solemn sustaining chords depict the murky, mysterious atmosphere and the reverb in the widely ramified sanitation under the capital of France.

Mussorgskij's handwritten annotation in the score (in obviously incorrect Latin) "Con (sic) mortuis in lingua mortua" ("With the dead in the language of the dead"), gives us a hint, that he took this piece, as a kind of dialogue with his dead friend Victor Hartmann.

Even here we can notice the motif of the Promenade, but now it is transfigured into a chant like in a Requiem. Very quietly the last notes fade out - a last reminiscence to the old friend.

Audio MIDI: Promenade - The Marketplace in Limoges - Catacombs

The next picture "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" describes the grotesque ride of a witch on a hut on Hen’s Legs.

The master for this piece was probably the sketch of a long case clock by Hartmann.

Sketch of the Hut on Hen's Legs

The infernal character of this piece is diametrically opposed to the final piece "The Great Gate of Kiev", in which it leads without a pause.

The Great Gate Of Kiev

"The Great Gate Of Kiev" basically is also a Promenade, but now arranged as a grave final hymn. The insertion of peal of bells and inklings of church chorals stresses the solemn character of this great final.

The listener quasi leaves the exhibition through the gate and steps into the out-of-doors of real life.

Audio MIDI: The Hut of Baba Yaga - The Great Gate Of Kiev

With this Piano-Suite, Mussorgskij managed to create an uncomparable masterpiece in the European Music of the 19th century. So it is hardly to believe, that this piece was not noticed by anybody after it was first partially published in 1874. The first published version of the complete work came out not until some years after Mussorgskij's death (1886).

Title page of the first complete edition

And not until the twenties of the 20th century, it was Maurice Ravel's orchestrated version, which brought this piece an enormous success. Other adaptations and orchestrations were created by Walter Goehr (1942) and Vladimir Ashkenazy (1982). Even a version for rock-band was created by Emerson Lake & Palmer in the year of 1971 and the very contemporary adaptions show, how popular this work still is today.

Even if in the concert-halls of today, Ravel's (brilliant) orchestration is almost more popular, than the Original, one shouldn't forget about the original Piano-Version. It is the intrinsically masterwork. The adaptions could serve as an implement for a first approach to Mussorgskij's original work . However, it will ever be Mussorgskij's achievement, having created an immensely vivid and pictorial presentation of extra-musical things, with the restricted means of the Solo-Piano, as nobody before managed to do in this striking manner. This work is one of the best examples for the so called genre of "programme music", which had its first period of prosperity in the 19th century.

Pictures At An Exhibition - a real masterwork in Music History!

Note: The MIDI files were created by Robert Finley

What Thoughts Do We Have In Our Hearts?

On 22^nd of November 2006 my uncle, Fr. Manuel Merten OP, promoter for the nuns of the religious order of the Domenicans in the Vatican, received the "German Preaching Award" in the ancient Church of the Palace of Bonn, Germany, actually the Church of the University.

Annually, beginning in the year 2000, a very famous German publishing company offers this reward for "the best homily of the year". Any German-speaking Minister of whatever Christian denomination can take part in this contest by sending in one homily he or she preached on a certain day during a certain church service. Ministers of Non-Christian religions can also take part in this competition. On an ecumenical level the Jury is composed of professors of theology, publishers, pastors and representatives of the main Christian churches.

It is the second time that a Dominican was rewarded as the best preacher of the year. After Fr. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP in 2004 this year Fr. Manuel Merten OP received the bronze badge along with a valuable copy of the Bible. About 400 invited guests are normally invited for this outstanding event, among them a good number of friars, sisters and lay-people of the Order.

His homily was about the tolerance (and intolerance) of the different religious faiths in the world against the background of the recent attacks of islamic fanatics in different parts of the world.

I think,we desperately are in need of people, who raise their voice against intolerance and inhumanity and I'm proud, that one important voice of them comes directly out of my own family!

So here's the homily of Pater Manuel Merten:

What thoughts do you have in your hearts? Religions and the will of God for the good of mankind?

We are recording an incident from the 28thOctober 2001. On that particular Sunday, the sizeable Catholic community of Bahawalpur in Pakistan, that for decades has been entrusted to the Dominicans, changed their service times and for the first time fixed the principal worship at 10 o'clock, so as to make the church available beforehand for the small local evangelical community.

Forty-five evangelical Christians had gathered for the service, when suddenly the door was torn open and masked men armed with machine guns stormed in and opened fire indiscriminately. When they disappeared shortly thereafter, they left behind them 17 dead and a number of severely wounded, as well as severely shaken Catholic and evangelical communities. The following day, radical Islamic newspapers celebrated the incident, regretting however that the change of service time had not been known, otherwise the "triumph of the servants of Allah over the unbelievers would have been all the greater".

A week ago today, I celebrated mass in this very church - against the background of a newly tense situation, in which Christians feel insecure, in case protests over the appearance of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed in western newspapers degenerate into hostile action against them.

In connexion with the service, I am sitting together with the Dominican brothers and sisters of Bahawalpur. They are still marked by those earlier events and their emotion is unmistakeable when they recount how quickly it all happened, and how they witnessed the massacre from the window or the courtyard. But then they tell of impressive signs of support and solidarity from amongst the ranks of their Muslim neighbours. And naturally one event did not go unmentioned. One day, after the attack, on the evening of 29th October 2001, after a nine hour car journey, there was standing at the door, the old and seriously ill Maulana Mohammed Abdul Qadir Azad, former head imam of the second largest mosque in the world at Lahore, Pakistan, together with his son the present head imam of the mosque. They came to express their outrage. Abdul Qadir Azad apologised to the Christian communities in the name of right thinking Muslims and denounced the massacre as a "betrayal of the Prophet's message".

The head imam from Lahore did not stop at this solidarity visit. In January 2004 he invited a delegation of Christians, led by a Dominican, to a conference in his mosque. In front of more than three thousand faithful, and over one hundred Islamic scholars, the head imam set this invitation in the context of the permission Mohammed had given in the 7th century for Christians to conduct their prayers in the mosque of Medina. Then, on a Friday, their holy day, three thousand Muslims listened to one of our colleagues, James Channan, for over an hour. Since then there has been a considerable mutual esteem, not to say warm friendship, between him and the imam.

In the course of my stay in Pakistan, I also got to know Mohammed Abdul Qadir Azad personally. We spoke too about the caricatures and their dangerous impact especially in the Islamic world. Naturally the imam found these representations of the prophet hostile, but he could see no exact correlation between such caricatures and religious alienation between Christians and Islam. Whoever wishes to bring the caricatures to bear in a battle of cultures or even of religions has, according to the imam, a false perspective on things. Of such people one can only ask "Why do you have such thoughts in your heart?" And then Abdul Qadir Azad said something that deeply moved me; "Without the revelation of the message of love of the prophet Jesus and his unconditional desire for peace, Islam would not have reached its plenitude".

What thoughts do you have in your hearts? This is the very same question that Jesus in today's gospel, puts to "some scribes who were sitting there". They see the faith of the four men and the paralytic, they see the unusual amount of trouble they go to in order to bring their friend into Jesus' healing presence, they see the crowds of people gathered before the door, yearning for words that transform and bring peace, they themselves hear Jesus saying "Your sins are forgiven," but their religious preconceptions, or more exactly their "ideology" clouds their vision. Where something pleasing to God is being wrought, they see "blasphemy" at work.

This is a motif that is apparent in all the gospels: high priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees who make up the religious elite, seem particularly at risk of confusing their own political or religious concepts - their ideologies even - with the will of God. Over and over again this danger is made evident, as in St Matthew's gospel, and with reference to the prophet Isaiah where it literally states: "You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and be converted and be healed by me".

Religion, divine revelation - tragically - can be misunderstood, and it happens over and over again. When Pope Urban II proclaimed the first crusade on 27th November 1095 he ended his inflammatory speech with the words "It is the will of God" - and even today Muslims, when speaking of Christians, use the crusaders' concept of the "will of God", of which Christians too were convinced in the workings of the Inquisition and the burning of witches. With the conviction "It is the will of God" whole peoples and cultures have been exterminated, slavery and people trafficking justified, the rights of women suppressed, human rights abrogated and much more besides. In the firm conviction that it was "the will of God" George Bush defined in his state of the union speech of 29 January 2002 the "axis of evil", and later, on the side of the righteous, we hear of Guantanamo, prisoners being flown to prisons that practise torture, ever more pictures of Abu Grahib and other such places.

In the conviction that "Allah wills it" seventeen people were shot on the 28th October 2001, as they were gathered peacefully in prayer in the church. In the conviction that "Allah wishes the death of unbelievers", innocent people are hunted down in various Islamic countries.

We should listen to the words of Jesus in today's gospel: "What thoughts do you have in your hearts?" Let us ask ourselves the question: how can one avoid having a false perspective on things?

There is a place in the gospel of Luke that can help us find the right scale of values. Here is the text in abbreviated version: the rejection of Jesus in his own land.[2] "He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: ‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free to proclaim the Lord's year of favour'. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen'."

Jesus' words met with approval, but then someone asked the question: "Isn't that the son of Joseph?" Then Jesus ventures to remark that the so called chosen people has paid scant attention to God, and how often instead people from foreign races, heathens and non believers have not only been more attentive to God's word, but above all, have followed it. The report concludes: "When they heard this the people in the synagogue were enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away".

It is obviously not religion in itself, nor piety, nor regular attendance at church that guarantee that our view of things is not obscured and the thoughts in our heart not perverted. The test questions for a true understanding of what God wants from us are these: do what you say and what you do bring hope to the poor, is it good news for them? Do your actions bring freedom to prisoners - and there are so many different kinds of them. Do you give new sight to the blind? Is there not someone close to you who needs raising up? Are you, like Christ, a sign that God is merciful, and bountiful towards mankind?

Let us in this service pray for peace in the world and the well being of all peoples, let us pray above all that religions, the will of God, fulfil their true purpose in the service of mankind, furthering loving relations between them.

Amen

[1] Cf. Mt. 13 ; 14-15 [2] Cf. Lk. 4; 16-21

A little Preparation for Christmas

In a few days, it's christmas eve, but I don't feel very Christmassy so far. It's funny, but every year, shortly before christmas, you have a lot to work and not seldom, you also become ill, so there's no chance to look forward to Christmas.

So, to bring us all in the right mood, here's the MIDI-version of W.A.Mozart's piece

"12 Variations in C-Major for Piano solo" (KV 265) .

I'm sure, you all know this little melody...in America they call it "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and I think it's a lullaby:

But in Germany we call it "Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann" (Tomorrow Santa Claus will come) and it's one of our most popular christmas carols:

But surprisingly the origin of this song was a French folk-song called "Ah, vous dirai-je Maman”. The original lyrics were about a child's desire for candy.

Just for the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned, that there were many other composers, who took this little tune as a master for their variations, i.e. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach:

But back to Mozart! When he composed his variations back in 1778, it was not related to Christmas in any way. (It's funny, how a melody makes its way across the planet and is related to different situations...)

So I hope you enjoy it anyway, it is ever and anon astonishing, what a creativity this guy had inside himself. One single little melody and then all these rhythmical and melodical inventions, just fascinating...! I think if Mozart would live in our time, he would also be a great improviser in Jazzmusic...

Have an enjoyable Christmas time and a peaceful 2007!

The Mystery Of Our Inner Musicality

At the moment, I'm suffering from a serious inflammation of the tympanumm inside my left ear, which causes an almost 100% deafness of this ear. Of course, this is an unpleasant situation, especially for a musician, who has trained his acute hearing from his early childhood on. In such a situation, we notice, how we take it for granted to be able to hear and we seldom think about the fact, how important this sense is in our daily life. When the sense of hearing is missing, we are totally disoriented in a lot of situations, i.e. road traffic.

So, in this compulsory break, I was thinking about the question, which role our sense of hearing is playing for the musicality of a person. Where does musicality have its origin? "Of course in the ear!", most of us may say, "With the ear we recognize the Music and these impulses are routed to the brain by our nerves". Well, but this would mean as a reverse, that deaf people do not have any kind of musicality, because they don't have any imagination, what music is...Is this really so?

At least for me, this is not correct; even when I'm not listening to anything from outside, there's still music in me. The ability of my imagination gives me the possibility to create music just inside me and not only music, which I heard before, but also new, unknown music. Ergo there must be something inside us, some kind of a musical center, that gives us the ability to realize music a priori.

There is an interesting anecdote of Glenn Gould: As a little boy he was practising on the piano at his parent's home and he again and again failed to play a certain passage of a piano work. Over and over he tried but didn't succeed. Then finally the door was opened and the chamber-maid came in and obviously she wasn't taken with the playing of Little Glenn, because without caring about Glenn at the piano she switched on the vacuum cleaner. Glenn went on trying this accursed passage, although the sound of the vacuum cleaner was drowning out his playing on the piano. And suddenly he managed to play the passage so perfectly how he had intended it all the time before. Only his imagination was his "ear" and obviously it was a better adviser than his normal ear.

Another example is the famous female drummer Evelyn Glennie, who has been nearly deaf since her early childhood but has become a leading figure on her instrument. She realizes music mainly only as vibrations but she is also able to compose! In this case one could object: "Well in this case there is not only the "inner musicality" working! At least she has a sensuous experience, because of the sound waves of her instrument...", but anyway, it is astonishing, that she, without hearing, has become a master on her instrument.

I'm sure, that there exists another sense inside us, which hasn't been discovered by scientists so far, and which is responsible for the phenomenon of our musicality. One of the many unsolved mysteries of mankind! One can be anxious to see, if the scientists will ever succeed to provide evidence to this 6th sense. But perhaps it would be better, if they won't, because exactly this mystery makes music being something so fascinating and beautiful. Who knows, perhaps their scientific curiosity would destroy this beauty...?!!

Welte Mignon - The MIDI Of The Last Century

In the technical wonderworld of today, we take it for granted to use all kinds of recording and sound-reproducing techniques, as CD's, audio tapes, MP3, MIDI, Wave, iPod's, etc. ...! It's normal for us to listen to the interpretations of our favorite artists, whenever and wherever we are.

But a hundred years ago, this was impossible! There was no radio and no player at home. If you wanted to listen to a performance of your favorite artist that time, you had to go to a concert, he/she was given, sometimes many miles away from your home! In 1877 Thomas Alva Edison invented the first phonograph, but the results were not exactly brilliant and pleasing to the ear.

So, two young german men in Freiburg/Germany, Edwin Emil Welte and his brother-in-law Karl Bockisch thought about other and better methods to record and to reproduce piano-music. They founded "M.Welte & Sons" and after some years of development, they presented the first "Welte-Mignon reproducing piano" in 1905:

This apparatus consisted of a reconstructed Steinway-Grand Piano combined with a flexowriter.

This technique might remind us of the well-known Western Saloon Pianos, but with this apparatus it was not only possible to record the melody and chords, someone was playing on the piano, but also all dynamic and Pedal nuances.

Of course, this was a sensation that time and a lot of composers and pianists took the chance to record on this new technical achievement. Fortunately, a lot of those piano rolls have been well-preserved and in the 1990's, a lot of them were digitally recorded and released in a 5-CD-Set. So this ancient technical marvel gives us the chance to get an impression of the musical aesthetics of the time of the turn of the century. We can be very thankful, that the genius of those two german engineers gives us the possibility to listen to authentic interpretations of piano music of that era.

It's not so easy to find audio-examples in the WorldWideWeb, but after some time of searching, I found the following examples; so enjoy and while listening keep in mind, that this music was recorded a hundred years ago...:

Note: The examples are MP3 files and should work with "Microsoft Media Player" and "WinAmp" as well as "Real Player". You can also just click on one of the links and save it on your computer!

Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dance No. 1, Pianist: Arthur Nikisch, recorded: Feb.9.1906

(File size: 5 MB)

Franz Liszt, Étude of the Concert No.3 "Un Sospiro", Pianist: Frederick Lamond, recorded: Sep.27.1905

(File size: 7 MB)

A brief introduction to: J.S. Bach's "Goldberg-Variations"

One of the finest works in Cembalo-(Piano-Music) is definitely Johann Sebastian Bach's composition "Aria with 30 Variations and Aria da capo for a two-manual harpsichord" from 1741, which was a remittance work for the Earl Hermann Carl v. Keyserlingk in Dresden,Germany.

Above: Original cover from the first release in 1741

According to the legend, the Earl suffered from insomnia. So his cembalist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg had to play for him in the evening, so that he could fall asleep. Because he got bored from all the tunes Goldberg played, the Earl asked Bach to write something new for Goldberg. We don't know, what the Earl thought about this "musical medicine", but this great work is far away from being a lullaby...

So, Bach thought about how he could manage that task...

Normally, it was the melody-line, which was variegated in a work with variations. In this work however, Bach decided to take the descending bass-line of the "Aria" "G, F#, E, D, B" as the fundament of all 30 variations. (see the example-pictures, the repeated bass-notes are marked in red):

.

This way of composing variations was very unusual, but with this method, Bach gained a lot of freedom in diversifying the melody.

Another striking thing is the fact, that every third variation is a canon. Bach composed these canons in ascending intervals. Variation III is a canon at unisono, Variation VI is a canon at the second, Variation IX is a canon at the third, and so on until Variation XXVII, which is a canon at the ninth.

Variation XXV marks a climax in the whole work, because it is the only one, which is an "Adagio". It is a very contemplative piece and one of the masterworks ever written for keyboard in the Baroque Era.

At the end of Variation XXX, there is a repetition of the Aria (Aria da capo), which makes the work an accomplished piece of musical architecture. Its symmetry,intelligence and emotional profoundness marks a milestone in musical history.

If you want to get a first impression of this work, you can use the link below. It's a MIDI-Version of the whole work and lasts approx. 55 minutes. Be sure to choose a "Bright Piano"-sound in the options of your MIDI-Player (i.e. WinAmp). This version, of course, does not claim to be a perfect artistic interpretation of the work. It should be only a stimulation to go closer into the work. But it is worth while, so take the time, lean back and enjoy!

If you want to listen to a perfect interpretation, I recommend the recordings of Glenn Gould. His "Non-Legato"-style goes perfectly with the piece and offers a high degree of transparency and acuity. He recorded this work twice: In 1955 , it was his remarkable debut on stage (a very impetuous interpretation of a young man) and in 1981, it was his last recording before he died some months later (a very mature interpretation of a great artist). I recommend to listen to both recordings in comparison. This gives you a good impression of the possibilities of different interpretations of this masterpiece of music!

Midi: Goldberg-Variations

A Little Joke...For Music Experts Only...!

This is, what the old sophisticated lady in the front row is whispering, just at the beginning of the concert...!

For those, who can't read notes, here's...

...a little acoustical hint

Bauhaus

These artworks were created by the teachers of the "Bauhaus" on 18th of May,1924 as a birthday present for Walter Gropius, the founder of the "Bauhaus".

The Photo, which was chosen as a master, was taken from a newspaper and shows a crowd listening to a public radio amplifier during the announcement of the results of the elections for the German Reichstag in 1924:

The fascinating idea was, to show the different styles of the artists, by using the same photo as a master. I find it interesting, to see, how the different artists found very different ways of translating the "Original" into their very own artistic "language":

Lionel Feininger

Wassily Kandinsky

Paul Klee

Lásló Moholy-Nagy

Georg Muche

Fisches Nachtgesang (The Lullaby of the Fish)

Here's a "song" by German writer Christian Morgenstern called "Fisches Nachtgesang" ("The Lullaby of the Fish"). I've always been interested in this kind of creativity, when an artist fathoms the possibilties and the boundaries of his profession vis-à-vis another kind of art...I hope, you enjoy it...!

If you want to know, what I've created with real songs of animals of the sea (Chants of the Humpback Whales), then visit my Song-Site, just by clicking the link " Some Music Made By Me" on the right side of this Blog and choose "Wal-Party"...!

Tacet ! (Enjoy the Silence!)

In a world, which is full of noise and chattering and where music harasses us in every situation (dancing music, shopping music, music for relaxation...), there's time for a pause!

So here is one complete work of the american composer John Cage, called "4'33", it was composed in 1952. Just lean back and enjoy:

Set I

TACET

Set II

TACET

Set III

TACET

After enjoying it, you can find out more about the work and the intentions of John Cage at this place...:

4'33 by John Cage

What Is Jazz?

Some time ago there was a long discussion on a European Jazz BBS in the Internet, dealing with the question: What is Jazz?

It was interesting to read all these statements of self-proclaimed experts. Some were referring to the social side of Jazz Music, others were referring to harmony and music theory and others even made philosophical remarks. But finally they got no satisfying answer to this question.

My question is: Do we really need to define a music style? Do we need to find terms and definitions for that phenomenon called "Music"? O.K., in a discussion it might be useful to use certain terms to make clear, of what kind of music one is talking about, but some of these "experts" seem to spend more time with searching for adequate terms, than doing or listening to music.

Charlie Parker once was asked in an interview: "Can you explain,what Be-Bop is all about?" and he answered: "No, I can't, and I wish, you would easily call it 'Music'...!"

That's it!!!

Classic Meets Pop

There has been a new trend on the music market for the last couple of years, which tries to create a new audience for classical music. In times, in which there are less people in the concert halls, more and more record labels and musicians are trying to present classical music in a more "trendy" way, by re-arranging the works of the last centuries. Ensembles like "Rondo Veneziano", which is playing arrangements mostly originally composed by W.A. Mozart and "André Rieu", whose ensemble is doing mostly arrangements of waltzes of the Strauss-Dynasty from Vienna have a tremendous success with their performances and all their records are bestsellers.

So is this a good trend to find a new audience for classical music?

In my opinion it's always good, when people, who never came in contact with classical music in their life before, find their way to this musical genre. But the sad thing is, that this has no or only a little effect on the situation of the "real" classical music scene, because the listeners get stuck in this state of their musical taste. They probably think, that Mozart's music is originally composed with an E- Bass and drums and don't care about the original work. It's enough for them to see the musicians of "Rondo Veneziano", wearing rococo perukes and rococo costumes to have the illusion of a "classical concert". And it's the same with the Orchestra of "André Rieu", which tries to create the illusion of a concert of the art nouveau epoch. It's only the hokey cliché of the original composition but easy consumable utility music,the best music to listen to during the hen party...! I think, sooner or later, this will kill music as an art, if people are only taking it as background music.

But on the other hand, we have to keep in mind, that also in the era of Rococo and Romantic, music mostly was entertainment for the upper class and not seldom, the composers were forced to create music just for the fun of these ignorants, because of the money! There's a true story of Beethoven: He was invited to play some of his compositions during an aristocratic jollification, so he was sitting at the piano and while he played his music, the people were just playing cards and were chattering all the time. So after some time Beethoven slammed down the cover of the keyboard, ran to the door and while leaving he shouted: "I'm not playing any longer for these ignorant pigs!!" So things haven't changed so much during the centuries...

But there are also good examples in contemporary music: There are a lot of Jazz musicians, who re-arrange classical music. It all started with Jacques Loussier's "Play Bach"-records in the sixties and a lot of Jazz musicians followed to "play" with classical compositions, i.e. the "Eugen Cicero Trio" in Germany and the "Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band " in the U.S.A. They are not only adding a modern beat to the original, but create something totally new with their arrangements.

If this will encourage a lot of listeners to listen to the original work as well, it would be the best thing. The original always is a better thing, than the cheap pseudo-modernisation of the masterworks of the last centuries!

For A Renewal of a Non-Professional Music Culture

It is obvious, that today's professional music scene has reached a state of stagnation. There are zillions of professional musicians, bands, orchestras and choirs trying to survive in the music business. Surviving means: earning money. And because, they have nothing else to earn their money with, they are forced to orientate on the free market. The taste of the majority of the music consumers and concertgoers determines the repertoire. And the taste of the majority is influenced by the media, like radio and TV and the great record companies.

If you look at the radio program of today, it's obvious, that the broadcasting stations prefer easy consumable music, like Pop, Smooth Jazz and "Light Classical Music". The necessity to reach a big audience causes a tremendous conservatism in the playlists of the broadcasting stations. They are only interested in having a big audience for their commercials, they are not interested in creating an audience for contemporary and innovative music, which mostly isn't so catchy, like the stuff, we have listened to a lot of times.

And in the concert-halls of today, we face the same phenomenon. They rather play Beethoven's 9th Symphony or Mozart's "Magic Flute" ad nauseam, than trying something new and taking the risk to have only a relatively small audience.

On the other hand the stars of the business earn astronomical amounts of money with doing mostly the same repertoire (i.e. German Violinist Anne Sophie Mutter gets an amount of € 50.000+ for one concert!). And the trend has not come to an end...

So our music culture goes round in circles, without giving new talents and progressive music a chance. So, how can we change the situation? Who can try to renew the music culture?

In my opinion, the huge number of non-professional artists plays a more and more important role in contemporary music. They are doing music "just for fun" and not for commercial purposes. This fact gives them a great freedom to perform music, which is cold-shouldered by the professional music business. And not seldom the non-professional musicians are making music on a high artistic level and with a bigger enthusiasm than the Professionals, who are only doing "Business as Usual". The "Amateurs" are the medium of a more contemporary and innovative music-scene. They nowadays are playing the role of the public communities, which shut down one orchestra after the other, because there is no money left! The Amateurs maintain an active music life, which is as important as eating and drinking; without an active music-scene a polity is drying up!

So this little comment is to encourage all music amateurs to perform music in public. We really have a hand in reviving the contemporary music culture!

Let's make our children sing!

I've made the experience for many years now, that music is the most wonderful gift on earth. Since my early childhood I've been surrounded by music and music was not only a decorative attachment, but a vital part of my life. If you are able to express yourself musically, then music enriches your whole life and helps you also in difficult situations. I remember, that everytime, when I was down, I went to my piano and was improvising not seldom for hours and I felt much better after that.

But music is not only a comforter, it also has a significant effect on your intelligence and your social behaviour. A growing body of scientific studies prove, that children with a musical education are more intelligent and have extraordinary high communication skills. It doesn't depend so much on the instrument, they learn to play, but in my opinion, the most effective way of making music is singing.

Singing is the straightest way of making music, because your body and soul are your instruments. When I return from work and have to go to the rehearsal of our chamber choir, I not seldom don't feel like going to it, because I'm tired. But after the first warm up of the voice, I feel, how all the mental pressure drops away and how I become satisfied and relax. If more children would be educated in music, there would be less senslessness and violence in their lives. So I very much agree with our former german secretary of the interior Otto Schily, who said in a speech in the German Bundestag in 1998:

"...The one, who shuts down public music schools, is damaging the inner social security...If children are only taught intellectual and not also musically,there will be character deformations, which can also end in violence..."

So let's make our children sing! I'm convinced that this will cause a better and more peaceful society!

Have a peaceful and a Happy 2006!

Christmas In Wuppertal

Here are some pictures of our traditional Christmas lunch on December,25th at my sister's home.

As every year, she decorated the Christmas tree in a very aesthetic way. Also the table was a vision of delight.

As a starter, we had a salad with shrimps and avocado cream.

As the main course we had "Tafelspitz". That is a traditional Austrian meal with a thinly sliced lean boiled piece of beef from the shoulder . This is served with chive-sauce and "Apfelkren". "Apfelkren" is made of apple puree and horseradish. As a side dish we had spinach leaves and dumplings. Doesn't make this picture your mouth water?

For dessert, we had Mousse au chocolat. Hmmm, yummy yummy....!!

After lunch, we had a little rest and after that, it was time for exchanging gifts. But as we are a musical family, the children played some christmas songs for us before.

Also "Uncle Markus" had the chance to play some tunes on his old piano, which I bequeathed to my nephew, because my new appartment is too small for it. Sniff...

But I took comfort in a wonderful piece of chocolate layer cake.

So finally all went well this Christmas day and I left my old piano with a tear in my eye but very well-fed.

Verdi Requiem

Here are some pictures of our wonderful town hall in Wuppertal. It was built in the style of Jugendstil (art nouveau).

After World War II, all the original mural painting and the interior design was painted over, but from 1991-1995, it was totally restored.

Isn't that beautiful...? It's such a pleasure to be on stage there.

In 2001, I took an active part in two great concert events there. We performed Verdi's Requiem with the Choir of the Concert Society Wuppertal and the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, directed by canadian conductor George Hanson. Our soloists were Rebecca Turner, Soprano, Cornelia Wulkopf,Alto and Yevgeni Nesterenko, Bass. Maybe some opera enthusiasts do know these names...? I can't put in words what it feels like, standing there in front of 1500 listeners and perfoming this great Requiem. It was one of the unforgettable moments in my musical career.

On Christmas Day of the same year, we also performed The Messiah by Georg Friedrich Händel, one of the finest works for choir ever, I think. This piece shows, how expressive the baroque style can be. I will go on about that later on...!

Welcome

Hi everybody, this will become my personal blog. I'm a musician by heart, so this blog mostly will deal with music. But I will also write about other topics here! So I hope, you enjoy your time here on my blog!