This came up on my feed. I’ve always bloody wondered what it all meant, even though I’ve enjoyed the music blissfully unaware of their meaning. I have been enlightened. Thanks.
Here's some other interesting words at the end of some classical titles: Allegro - quick, lively Largo - slow tempo, slower than adagio Danza - (?) some kind of dance maybe Adagio - another slow movement Presto - really fast? Grave - burial song? etc. . . .
yup, each of these italian words indicate the speed, or tempo. it's measured in bpm (beats/minut), and since you can't just say say "this piece's tempo is 87!" because of different interpretations (musicians playing the piece slower or faster according to how they think it sounds the best), one word doesn't indicate a tempo but a range of tempo, to allow diversity. Here's a copy-paste of wikipedia page "tempo" : Larghissimo - extremely slow, slowest type of tempo (24 bpm and under) Adagissimo and Grave - very slow, very slow and solemn (24-40 bpm) Largo - slow and broad (40-66 bpm) Larghetto - rather slow and broad (44-66 bpm) Un Adagio - slow with great expression (44-66 bpm) Adagietto - slower than andante or slightly faster than adagio (46-80 bpm) Lento - slow (52-108 bpm) Andante - at a walking pace, moderately slow (56-108 bpm) Andantino - slightly faster than andante, but slower than moderato (80-108 bpm) (although, in some cases, it can be taken to mean slightly slower than andante) Marcia moderato - moderately, in the manner of a march (66-80 bpm) Andante moderato - between andante and moderato (at a moderate walking speed) (80-108 bpm) Moderato - at a moderate speed (108-120 bpm) Allegretto - by the mid-19th century, moderately fast (112-120 bpm) Allegro moderato - close to, but not quite allegro (116-120 bpm) Allegro - fast and bright (120-156 bpm) Molto Allegro or Allegro vivace - at least slightly faster and livelier than allegro, but always at its range (and no faster than vivace) (124-156 bpm) Vivace - lively and fast (156-176 bpm) Vivacissimo and Allegrissimo - very fast, lively and bright (172-176 bpm) Presto - very fast (168-200 bpm) Prestissimo - extremely fast (200 bpm and over 208) (At this tempo, cut common time is often used) ps: this is approximative
I found your channel when googling what conductor gestures mean... LOL Went to couple symphony to culture myself LMAO, I usually youtubed the pieces beforehand to see if I'd like to hear them alive or not. Now I know what they're talking about, hahaha... Prefer major more than minor, matches my energy more. Thank you!
3:11 *gasp*... Is that a part of the classical cello repertoire? Oh my god we made it boys! For anyone wondering, that is "Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Opus 85". No number is given, because it is his only Cello Concerto. Despite there being no nickname, is is a part of our (cellos) repertoire (that might just be because it is small though.)
I needed this, I’m learning about classical music and this video really helped me. I am happy that I understand it even tho I’m not an English fluent, thanks a lot dude
Thank you! This was really useful! I'd love to see a another video in this format explaining the relationship between the tonic, subdominant, dominant, etc.
I was never really exposed to classical music growing up in any significant way. And I really kind of came to it by listening to Alma Deutscher. She just pretty much stunned me with her talent. I love her violin concerto. I would really like to see some content on her music and her! I do appreciate the information that's clarified a couple things for me. When I started listening to alima I listen to her playing in a recording studio her rondo I had to look up what a rondo was. Found something on RU-vid to explain it pretty well.
I always think that Elgar's 'cello concerto (no 5 in the video ) is positive! Great video. Thank you. I liked it a lot as it wasn't stuffy and patronising as some instructional ones can appear I think.
To avoid the entire issue of artist's names, I just file my CDs by the album's name. I maintain a music library on my computer, so I can easily find any CD that I need by going through my music library. When it comes to the names, I treat each name as a string. As an example I would file "Huey Lewis" in "H" followed by "Huey Lewis & The News". But I do disregard the opening "The" when it comes to group names. Also, when it comes to the name of acts I follow the rule that I use "&" if the group is permanent and "and" if it is temporary group. So I have "Simon & Garfunkel" but use "Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel" for the song "My Little Town" since that wasn't a permanent pairing. Thanks for the information on Classical Music, I've had an issue where all of my Classical Music is just in one genre named "Classical". The problem I have is that it doesn't really give me much information what the music actually is. I tried including the Style but that didn't tell me much. What I plan to do is to subdivide it by general type (such as Solo Piano, Concerto, Symphony, and Sonata).
No, K is only for Mozart. Several composers were catalogued by someone other than themselves (Mozart, Debussy, Liszt), and their catalogue numbers use different letters (K for Mozart, L for Debussy, S for Liszt) which like Mozart are the cataloguer's initials; the vast majority use opus. Some composers, confusingly, have both opus and a different cataloguer (Schubert, Chopin); I wouldn't worry too much about them.
@@BrianPaick After seeing this video I've wondered why they can't attach a separate standard number based on the order the works were released (J. S. Bach's first work would be "Work #1", Satie's fourth work would be Work #4, and so on) regardless of the other factors. One of the problems I've had with classical music is that there are so many variations in the way that the pieces are named. Some include the full name, some just the nicknames, and some shorted/abbreviated names. It makes it difficult to figure out which works are the same by just the pieces' name.
Some people have called Beethoven's 5th the Victory Symphony. I have wondered about the OP thing. Like if I'm listening to Spotify on shuffle and I hear something come up and I look at my phone to see what it is. I see "Beethoven: Symphony No. 6" -okay, good information. What movement? "The Pastoral Symphony". Okay, keep scrolling so I can see the movement number. "OP. 68". GET TO THE POINT! WHAT MOVEMENT?! "Hey, why are you staring at your phone? You've got work to do."
I knew all of this but still wanted to check it out since I was never able to explain it in a well structured manner when someone asked. One minor complaint, the nicknames I think were mainly given by publishers to sell a piece or the listeners to easily differentiate. When you say Symphony in G major I ask OK, but which one? It's much easier to remember by the "Surprise" than lets say the Hoboken number.
It's a true pity so many young people haven't a clue about classical music. (A recent survey revealed that most respondents under a certain age couldn't name a single classical composer). I wonder if the simplistic rubbish they listen to at earsplitting volume is, possibly, being churned out entirely by AI? Wouldn't surprise me. I'm past seventy and have been deeply enjoying classical since childhood even though it was never heard in my home. Can't imagine living in this crazy over-stressed world without it.
Just wondering what are your favorite classical artists/ pieces? I’m only 19 and recently got into classical (enjoyed it since a kid too but only recently really got into it) and think it’d be cool to hear an opinion from a man who’s listened for 7 decades. My favorites so far are Tchaikovsky and Ravel. Beethoven too
As a 15 year old classical music listener and pianist it has always made me uncomfortable that such minimalistic music can be so popular, but it really makes sense. Music nowadays is mostly electronic and vocal and exists for day-to-day entertainment and not as a form of art. This simplicity exists to grab as much of the audience's attention as possible. Because of this, the Internet *tries* to treats classical music the same way, by popularizing the less complex pieces that just sound "catchy" and disregards artistic value. It then quickly becomes a stereotype that classical music is "BORING AND CALMING AND SO sLoW!!!!!111" While in reality I wouldn't even say even 30% of classical music is "slow". I show them fast classical music they don't recognize it as such. Classical music by itself isn't even a single genre, explained by the video. It's like at least 10 genres mashed together, shame that it's so generalized. Essentially 90% of the only young people who are in to classical pieces these days are those who actually study music. I've been playing the piano ever since 5 years old and grew up with classical music, and wasn't able to really fit in that well. A few of my friends not only dislike, but actually "boo" classical music so I honestly just pretend to not listen to music at all. Exactly why the attendance demographics of symphonies is almost always above 60 years old.
@@patricklewis9787 Sorry I'm just seeing your comment four months later for some unknown reason. You have mentioned three 'Great Peaks'. I think of composers kind of like they were a mountain range: The three 'highest' being Mt. Bach, Mt. Mozart. Mt. Beethoven. Like Everest, Annapurna, Denali we stand truly in awe of them. (I have no idea how Mozart could have composed SO much fabulous music in such a short lifetime). But there are also so many other peaks, maybe not as overwhelming but rare and beautiful just the same. Over the years I've spent endless hours taking in as much other very well known greats like the immortal Chopin, the ever-eccentric Satie, Bhrams of course and many others. But I'm always delighted to stumble upon the less well-known but in my view incredibly good composers like Poulanc, Ibert, De Falla, Villa Lobos, Delius and I could go on and on. If you don't know of them I suggest you give them a try. Good luck and thanks for the comment.
@@octopuszombie8744 You write so well I would never guess you're only 15. And you were truly fortunate to be brought up immersed in great music. Listening to something 'calm & slow' from any number of great composers from many eras is probably what a lot of people, (young or old), could use to de-escalate from the ever-increasing repetitive blather we are bombarded with daily. I often fall asleep to the Chopin mazurkas, Grieg's lyric pieces, or maybe some guitar works of Fernando Sor. Works for me. Thanks for the comment and I'm sure you have an interesting, creative life ahead of you.
Is there any catalog numbers for Alma Deutscher? Also just how many pieces has she composed now. I'm also curious about the evolution of the Opera Cinderella I know it's gone through a number of changes in rewrites and I'd kind of like a better background on it than I've been able to piece together.
I think something that always confused me was the fact that a whole title would say "symphony no. 5" and then "in C minor" as if I had the choice to look for "symphony no. 5 in D," for example. and also learning up the letters and numbers drives me crazy cause they really don't give me any extra info, it's just a letter or a number. while the title "pastoral" does mean something to me
Another question that I have is how do you exactly define classical. For example to me the Angelina Jordan song, Song for A sounds classical to me but I don't think it actually is. But how exactly do you define it?
It's not just that but what era of Classical Music is the work from. I've taken to listing the genre as "Classical - Romantic", "Classical - Classical" and "Classical - Modern" to separate them. What I tend to do in my own collection is that if it sounds like classical music, it is classical music.
I think it means the work was released Posthumously (after the death of the Composer, Chopin died at the age of 39 per Wikipedia) so they didn't attach a work number to it.
I already know what the titles mean but I wanted a more in depth explanation and this was great. At 3:03 there was an orchestral piece playing, do you mind telling what it is? It caught my interest
@@evans3254 The Elgar Concerto is one of the most beautiful Cello Concertos. While discovering Elgar, don't miss out on his "Enigma Variations", his Violin Concerto and the "Pomp and Circumstances Marches" and you'll be hooked with classical music forever! But there is sooo much more to discover than just Edward Elgar, enough for more than a lifetime.
I never understand that about particular keys having their own emotional significance. For example, if a piece in F major is played with, for some reason, instruments tuned a semitone too low, do we not hear that, presumably now in E major, with the same emotional significance as we would have in F? ( I understand the difference between major and minor; this question is not about that.)
Very interesting question, I've often wondered this myself. There's no way to measure this, all we can say is that it just sounds at a lower frequency, even all these keys he said in this video with F major being quite mellow, F major in beethovens time was a bit lower than today's f major so it's hard to say. But the fact that a piece is played higher or lower might move us in a way that if it's lower, it might sound a bit more dramatic or scary, but if it's higher it might sound a bit more energetic, these things come from evolution.
@@Composer_ Interesting, thank you; I'd assumed that it must somehow be something more profound than overall pitch, albeit that overall pitch seemed, to me, to be the only variable involved. It's reassuring, too, to learn that I'm not the only one who wondered about it! Cheers :)
In the early 18th century the "major/minor" system of tonalities had been established but the system of equal temperament had not yet become standard. Therefore, the different keys were unique in a way they no longer are today. In those days theorists such as Johann Mattheson wrote about the emotional differences among them. At later periods and up to the present, despite equal temperament, people still hear differences in mood among the different keys (that is, among major keys and among minor keys, not just the difference between major and minor). I'm sure you can find articles about this phenomenon somewhere on the internet. Happy searching! This is a very interesting topic.
