Music Appreciation

 Niccolò Paganini   Franz Liszt 

 Virtuoso first  Composer second  Musical Quality vs. Public Purpose?  Right-hand technique  Intonation, phrasing  Left-hand technique  Flexibility, speed

 Unequaled today?  Long fingers  Three octaves over four strings  Double harmonics  Legato and pizzicato

 Where?  Why not published  Sergei Rachmaninoff “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” Sergei Rachmaninoff “Variations on a Theme by Paganini”

 Reaction  Diabolical!  Fear and fascinated  Critics Demonized yet awed  Concerts as “events”  Overexposure  Marketing  Broken strings

 Debuted at 10  Toured until 18  Mistress (“Kept Man”)  Elisa Baciocchi Sister of Neapolean  Perfected violin technique for over 10 years  Reappeared  Celebrity  Following/fans/groupies

  Virtuoso technique  Flamboyant  Israel tour, 1953  Richard Strauss: “Violin Sonata” Attack  Defected to US in 1970  Shoulder damage Paganini Caprice No. 24

 Student of Salieri  Debuted at 9  Beethoven’s “kiss”  Prince Esterházy  Disenchanted  philosophy, religion, literature Victor Hugo, Heinrich Heine

 Inspired by Paganini  “Kept Man” Countess Marie d'Agoult Children, including Cosmia  Virtuoso pianist  Similar fame  Profound musician  New language, like Chopin

 Concerts  First solo “recital” format  Society  Musical  Intellectual  Religious  Lisztomania!

 Charity  Churches, hospitals, schools  Young musicians  “Who’s Who” list of students  Hungarian roots

 Priesthood  Abee  Sacred Music  Tone Poem  Faust Symphony, LiebestraumLiebestraum Very strange!

 Huge ego vs. musical humility  virtuoso personality vs. kind, generous friend  Great “lover” and “womanizer” vs. spiritual, humanitarian ideals  “Dies Irae”  “Mephisto Waltz”  “Todentanz”Todentanz

 Relationship with Liszt  Schooling  Musical education  Hans von Bülow  Favored conductor Liszt and Wager  Married Cosima (two children)  Richard Wagner  Affair and three illegitimate children  Marriage and four children

 Disowned by Liszt  Denounced by von Bülow  “Frau Wagner”  Age difference: 24 years Three children Bayreuth Festival Director and producer: 31 years  Anti-Semite

Romantic Ideals

 Why?  Celebration of the inexplicable, the super- human  physical accomplishments of vocal and dance technique  Story told through non traditional methods  dance and song  Only profitable ‘classical’ music today. Why?

 Russia  Paris USA

 Italy  Bel Canto  Nationalism  Verismo  France  Opera Comique  Germany  Music Drama

 “Beautiful Singing” or “Beautiful Song”  Virtuoso technique requirements  Women Coloratura  Men High tessitura

 Joan Sutherland Joan Sutherland  Maria Callas  Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti

 “Il Re d’Italia”  Nationalism  “Va, Pensiero” “Va, Pensiero” Shakespeare influence  Rigoletto (1851)  Quartet Quartet  Aida (1900) Leontyne Price

 Inspired by Aida performance  “Real life” situations  Exotic locations  US West  Asia  Shorten, tighter drama  Melody

 1896  Young characters  Artists  Paris romantic Baz Lehrman production German TV  Act II (Musetta’s “waltz”) Act II (Musetta’s “waltz”) (Very strange!)

 Political  Controversial  Torture  Murder  Attempted rape End of Act II  Maria Callas Maria Callas End of Act III  Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna

 Ballet  French Opera (Carmen)  German Opera (Die Walküre and Salome)  Disclaimer