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Behind the Tale

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🖊️  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yireh is a freshman attending Oxford Academy, who plays piano and is an avid reader. He serves as the Social Media Manager at MAH and is the author for the "Behind the Tale" column

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Igor Stravinsky

In 1882, Igor Stravinsky, the son of Fyodor Stravinsky, was born into a strongly musically oriented Russian family. Growing up under the influence of renowned figures in Russian music, he pursued music by learning under the legendary composer Rimsky-Korsakov while studying law. By age 26, Stravinsky established himself as a composer by producing several works, and by 29, he was renowned for his enormously successful compositions Firebird and Petrushka.

Around 1907, Stravinsky inspired the plot of his newest ballet, The Rite of Spring, from a story depicted by poems Yar and Yarila, following a pagan ritual of the sacrifice of a young woman to the God of spring for the transition to the next season. He continued to work on the music while gaining a partnership with artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich and controversial genius choreographer Nijinksy. However, the completion of the ballet was extremely obstructed by Nijinsky’s initial inability to successfully choreograph the piece, as well as physical difficulties in working with a large orchestra of ninety-nine men and an unconventional style of music. The Rite of Spring was finally premiered in 1913 to a full audience eager to hear the new composition.

At the beginning of the ballet, an eerily ringing tune combined with the uncanny staging of dancers immediately put the audience on the edge. As the dancers began to dance increasingly aggressively in a series of lurching movements and music boomed in discordant and hostile rhythms, the audience started to grow uneasy and angry. Blaming the unorthodoxy of  Nijinsky’s choreography and Stravinski’s music for their irritation, the audience began to slowly show signs of anger towards the orchestra. At the climax of the ballet, as the woman danced herself to death as a sacrifice, the audience exploded in a full-fledged riot, picking fights and drowning out the music; police were called to suppress additional harm.

Although, at the time, the ballet seemed like a disaster, The Rite of Spring remains one of the most influential compositions of all time, re-characterizing the definition of a ballet away from the prim, orthodox nature that it is usually attributed to. Stravinski’s music also paved the way for violent and discordant compositions, pioneering a new genre of classical music.

Giuseppe Tartini

On April 8, 1692, violin composer and virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini was born into an Italian family in the quaint town of Pirano. Intending for him to be a friar, his parents funded him with the necessary amount of musical education, assigning him to learn the violin. He, however, decided to attend a university and study law instead at the age of 18 and, following his father's death, promptly took advantage of it and decided to marry a woman named Elisabetta Premezore whose social rank had caused her disapproval in his father's eyes. Unfortunately, little did young Giuseppe know that his soon-to-be wife was the subject of a powerful cardinal, and his enlightenment to the fact that his lover was engaged to Giuseppe did not do good to his soul. What else could a righteous, catholic official personally appointed by the pope do than to display his wonderful catholic morals by using his catholic powers to lie and make charges of abduction on his main competitor?

It became so that, as the police were scouring the town for him, Giuseppe narrowly escaped and took refuge at a monastery; unable to leave for years. During this time of captivity, he, under the guidance of Bohuslav Matě, completely invested himself into mastering the violin, and master it he did.

One fateful night, Giuseppe pulled his nightcap over his forehead and lay delicately on his enormous pillow (at least, as illustrated by painter Christian Ferarri), quickly succumbing to sleep. As he later recounted to an astronomer Jerome Lalande, he had a dream in which he sold his soul to the devil in return for everything he ever wanted and, upon offering it to him, the devil took his violin and started playing a “sonata so wonderful and so beautiful”.

Tartini, awaking with a start, immediately took up his violin and brought back as much of the sonata from his dwindling memory onto the instrument. Although the piece is recognized as one of the greatest pieces of violin repertoire ever written, as well as gaining a level of notoriety for its menace and difficulty, Tartini was unsatisfied at the difference his composition had from the one from his dream, claiming that his frustration was great enough for him to smash his violin into smithereens had he not depended on it for happiness. Nevertheless, he completed it, and it was published posthumously under the aptly named title, “The Devil's Trill Sonata”. One is left to wonder, however, what the actual sonata Tartini so worshipped was and what Tartini died with.

Liszt's A Dreamy Sonata

Between the time 1844 and 1849, Hungarian piano virtuoso Franz Liszt composed his collection of the six “Consolations”, solos for the keyboard greatly deviating from his caricatured depiction of a seemingly psychotic composer portrayed by thundering études. As a favorite for all pianists to showcase emotional control over the instrument as well as the beauty of the song itself, Consolation Number 3 has especially outshone the other in the collection and has solidified its reputation as one of the greatest romantic compositions of all time. However, alluded to by the suspiciously similar melody and nocturne-like qualities, many analysts and listeners attribute the Consolation to Chopin’s posthumously published Nocturne Opus 72 Number 2. When the two composer’s relationship and the mournful atmosphere of the piece are combined, one can realize Liszt’s hidden message to the audience.

Both unanimously regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, Liszt and Chopin had an absurdly unfortunate and turbulent relationship, to say the very least. Born within a year of each other, Liszt in Hungary and Chopin in Poland, the two both came from exceptionally wealthy families already much invested in the musical arts. With the full support of their encouraging parents and their generous budgets, they both attended the most prestigious conservatories in their nations at which they slowly grew their virtuosity. The two climbed up in rank in their respective countries as a musician, and before the age of ten, had begun composing and performing. The two enjoyed regular performances, or recitals, a term Liszt later coined, and extravagant publicity in international attention for their bizarre talent.

The fuse was lit when the two first met at Chopin’s concert in Paris, which Liszt had gone to in wonder of rumors of another composer of his level. Upon meeting after the performance, they immediately formed a bond over their similarities and respect for each other's renowned reputation and began to meet often. They performed together, dedicated compositions to each other, and even lived in apartments on the same block.  Nonetheless, the two became wary of each other and the potential competition that would ensue. Liszt and Chopin were often regarded as counterparts of each other due to their similar attributes and backgrounds,  instigating lifelong competition between the two.

Liszt and Chopin, greatly differentiated by personality, reached different departments of success. Liszt was far more social and outgoing, reaching him an insane amount of publicity and a title of “the world’s first rockstar”. Although he was glorified for his infeasible technique and the ability to fit a harrowing number of notes in a single measure, he was not as recognized for the beauty and meaning of his compositions as much as Chopin, who was, and still is, considered to be one of the most emotional pianists. However, due to his constantly fragile health and adamant stage fright, he was not able to perform regularly or reach the public stardom of Liszt. This gaping contrast between the two contributed to their growing envy for each other, further aggravating their already-strained relationship.

As the industry of music often experiences, involvement with overly ambitious women ultimately tumorously broke apart the two’s relationship. Chopin’s unwedded wife, known by pen-name George Sand, was an extremely masculine and outspoken novelist whose personality clashed greatly with that of Chopin’s feebleness and primness. As Chopin’s health continually spiraled down the dumpster, he became increasingly irritable and demanding, which Sand eventually found overwhelming and left altogether. The departure of his partner and his degrading health broke him down, and he slowly stopped his composition and recitals altogether. On the other hand, Liszt was hitting it off with his own writer girlfriend Daniel Stern; denying morales of their absence of marriage by boisterously fathering three illegitimate children, three of which quickly died. Stern was also very close with Chopin, to the point where some believed they had their own affairs. Chopin bravely dedicated his twelve études to Stern in the presence of Sand, causing a massive hatred between the two women; Sand responded with heavy amounts of flirting and admiration towards Liszt. Liszt, as one could imagine, did not react well to this discovery of Stern's side-romances, and eventually cut off his relationship with Stern altogether after a long marriage, and decided to invest his time fully into composition and recitals.

After the incident with their respective females, Chopin and Liszt attempted to rebuild their relationship as friends, but the woman had casually cut off any last bonds with each other. Their difference in popularity and composition added to the impact and ended the legendary relationship.

Four years after their last meeting in Paris, Chopin died of tuberculosis to which Liszt surprisingly reacted with immense sorrow and regret. It was for this event that Liszt wrote Consolation Number 3, which follows the customary sorrowful tone of a nocturne with Chopin’s melody itself, as a tribute to his once great friend.

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