Département de Musique- Ecole Sainte Louise Ajaltoun

Mozart... Get to know this unique composer and his ingenuity 🎶

Johannes Chrystostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (1756–1791) was arguably the most gifted musician in the history of classical music. His inspiration is often described as 'divine', but he worked assiduously, not only to become the great composer he was, but also a conductor, virtuoso pianist, organist and violinist. Mozart's music embraces opera, symphony, concerto, chamber, choral, instrumental and vocal music, revealing an astonishing number of imperishable masterpieces.

Mozart was born in Salzburg, in 1756. Mozart's father, Leopold, was an ambitious composer and violinist.

Though he was and still is considered a genius, he was also tactless, arrogant and had a scatological sense of humour.

Mozart composed his first opera, Apollo et Hyacinthus when he was only 11. A year later the Emperor Joseph II commissioned him to write La finta semplice.

In August 1782 he married Constanze Weber. The Mozarts' marriage seemed to be a happy one. Constanze was easy-going, free-spending and usually pregnant. Only two of their six children survived.

Post-marriage, some of Mozart's best started to appear -the Haffner and Linz symphonies and five string quartets, for example.

Between 1784 and 1786, he composed nine piano concertos and three of these concurrently with The Marriage of Figaro.

The year 1787 saw the premiere of Mozart's second opera, Don Giovanni.

Mozart had a great run of successes in his final years - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the Clarinet Quintet in A, three of his 41 symphonies; Cosí fan Tutte, three piano trios, the Coronation piano concerto, two piano sonatas and three string quartets.

His health began to fail and his work rate slowed in 1790. He got better, though, and in 1791 alone composed the most famous The Magic Flute, the Requiem (unfinished), and the Clarinet Concerto.

Mozart did not live long enough to complete his Requiem. He died in Vienna, in 1791, before his 36th birthday.

Who's Antonio Vivaldi?

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was one of the most productive composers of the Baroque era. His vast output included substantial quantities of chamber and vocal music, some 46 operas and a remarkable 500 concertos...

Life and Music

A colourful character with an eye for the ladies, Vivaldi defied a lifetime of ill-health by regularly absenting himself from his home base of Venice in a desperate attempt to establish an international reputation.

The exact date of Vivaldi's birth (4th March 1678) confounded scholars for many years, although it was known that following his delivery the midwife performed an emergency baptism. The reason for his emergency baptism is not known for certain but is likely due to his poor health or to an earthquake that shook Venice on that day.

Vivaldi's father, Giovanni Battista, was a violinist at St Mark's Cathedral, and although he taught the prodigiously gifted Antonio to play from early childhood, a musical career seemed unlikely, especially when, aged 15, he was shunted off to join the priesthood.

He studied for 10 years, received Holy Orders in 1703 and earned the nickname "il prete rosso" (the red priest) from the distinctive colour of his hair.

By September 1703 Vivaldi had already secured his first professional appointment as maestro di violino at the Pio Ospedale della Pieta, one of four orphanages for girls in Venice. Remarkably, this was to remain his base for the greater part of his life, from 1703 to 1740, though with several prolonged 'leaves of absence'.

Throughout the 1730s Vivaldi continued to travel widely - to Bohemia, Austria and throughout Italy - despite the fact that his worsening health meant taking an expensive entourage of carers.

Destitute and alone, he passed away in Vienna in 1741 and was buried cheaply the same day in a hospital cemetery which sadly no longer exists.

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Get to know Chopin🎶

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of French-Polish parentage. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music.

Life and Music
Frederic Chopin was born in Poland, west of Warsaw, on either February 22nd or March 1st 1810 - local records differ with when Chopin's parents claimed he was born. Chopin was composing and writing poetry at six, and gave his first public concerto performance at the age of eight.

In 1822 Chopin came under the personal supervision of Jozef Elsner, the founder-director of the Warsaw Conservatory. He became a leading advocate of 'absolute music', producing some of the earliest Romantic pieces and arguably the finest body of solo music for the piano.

Chopin dedicated his second piano concerto (1830) to Delfina Potocka, with whom he hit the headlines during the 1940s when a sensational series of highly erotic (forged) love letters were discovered. In 1836 Chopin met the novelist George Sand (alias Aurore Dudevant), and so began one of the most famous love affairs in the history of music. The pair split up in 1847.

Chopin's Funeral March, one of the piano repertoire's most famous works, was composed in 1837. By 1841, both sets of Chopin's Etudes had been published. They went on to become indispensable tomes for piano students everywhere.

Among the most famous of his works was composed late in his life - The Minute Waltz was finished in 1847. Chopin's health began to deteriorate rapidly and he left for England at the invitation of his Scottish piano pupil, Jane Stirling.

He returned to Paris, where, despite gifts of money and many kind attempts to comfort him, he died on 17 October 1849.

Did you know that Brahms and Tchaikovsky were born on the same day? 🎉🎶

Who is Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky?

Tchaikovsky was one of the most famous Russian composers. His music had great appeal for the general public by virtue of its tuneful open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies, and colourful, picturesque orchestration, all of which evoke a profound emotional response.

His most popular compositions include music for the ballets Swan Lake (1877), The Sleeping Beauty (1889), and The Nutcracker (1892). He is also famous for the Romeo and Juliet overture (1870) and celebrated for Symphony No. 6 in B Minor (Pathétique) (1893).

Tchaikovsky graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1865. He was among its first students when it opened in 1861. His first music lessons began in 1845.

In 1893, Tchaikovsky died from complications of cholera, an epidemic of which was sweeping through St. Petersburg. Rumours circulated that his death was a su***de, and they were revived in the late 20th century by some of his biographers, but these allegations cannot be supported by documentary evidence.

On this day, we celebrate Brahms' birthday 🎉🎶
Who is Johannes Brahms?
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German composer and pianist and is considered a leading composer in the romantic period. His best known pieces include his Academic Festival Overture and German Requiem.

Life and Music
Brahms learned the piano at the age of eight; he improvised a piano sonata at 11, studied theory and composition at 13 and by 14 had made his public concert debut conducting a male-voice choir.

In 1850 Brahms partnered the refugee Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi, who introduced him to gypsy music and style.
Three years later in 1853 they toured together, and Brahms met the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim, who became a close friend. Brahms and Joachim spent some time together at Gottingen, where Brahms jotted down the student verses that later formed the basis of his Academic Festival Overture. In the same period he wrote his ambitious First Piano Sonata.

Schumann was so impressed with Brahms's compositions and piano playing that, in an article in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, he hailed him as "the young eagle", adding that "he has arrived, a young man at whose cradle the Graces and Heroes have stood guard". When Brahms heard of Schumann's nervous breakdown, he hurried to Dusseldorf to help the family. At this time he wrote his early masterpieces, including the original version of the First Piano Trio. In 1863, the 30-year-old Brahms accepted the directorship of the Vienna Singakademie. He met Wagner the following year, though he failed to strike up a rapport. He also toured widely and taught the piano. In 1869 Brahms made his final move, to Vienna, and the jealous Wagner attacked him in the press. In 1897 Brahms died from cancer. His last public appearance was at a performance of his greatest orchestral work: the Fourth Symphony. On the day of his funeral, all the ships in Hamburg lowered their flags to half-mast.

𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐡 (𝟏𝟔𝟖𝟓 - 𝟏𝟕𝟓𝟎)

Johann Sebastian Bach came into the world on March 21st 1685. He was born in the town of Eisenach, Germany, to Johann Ambrosius Bach and Maria Elisabeth Lammerhirt.
Bach's music lives on today thanks to his amazing catalogue of concertos, choral, organ and keyboard works. In his lifetime (65 years), Bach composed an incredible 1128 pieces of music. There are a further 23 works which were lost or unfinished. His best-known compositions include The Well-Tempered Clavier, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Air on the G String, Goldberg Variations, Brandenburg Concertos and many more.

We will be launching a new series of "Get to know your classical composers"!
Since we are all in lockdown, being preventive and of course practicing, we decided to post every day a short biography of classical composers who marked the history of classical music.
It is crucial to build a solid ground and enrich our background when it comes to classical musicians.

Nous lancerons un nouveau projet visant à vous introduire aux géants de la musique classique.
Étant au confinement avec nos instruments, nous avons décidé de partager avec vous, chaque jour, une petite biographie des compositeurs qui ont marqué et aidé au développement de la musique classique à tous les niveaux.

"Partage avec moi tes connaissances sur la musique classique et je te dirai qui tu es"

Happy Easter from our little music family to yours!

Nous vous souhaitons de joyeuses fêtes !

فصح مجيد ومبارك 🙏🏻

Être artiste c'est être créatif dans son essence ! 🎶🌠

We already miss our talented students!

He is Risen! Hallelujah 🙏🏻🌟
We wish you a blessed Saturday!

"Music is the strongest form of magic"✨
All smiles, all focused and all committed to promote music in all its forms ❤️