the genocidal terrorism that the State of Israel has
been exercising against the Palestinian People.
Georg Friedrich Handel was born on February 23, 1685
February 28th is Andalusia Day.
On February 29, 1792, Gioachino Rossini was born.
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George Frideric Handel ( 1685-1759), born in Halle , Germany , is one of the leading figures in the history of music and, certainly, of the Baroque period (1600-1750). He wrote numerous operas, cantatas, and oratorios, among which his masterpiece, the oratorio Messiah , stands out. At the age of 18, he moved to Hamburg, where he joined the Opera Orchestra . After three years, he traveled to Florence and then to Rome . In 1710, he returned to Germany and from there to London , where he settled under the patronage of various benefactors. In London , he acquired British citizenship and was appointed manager of the Royal Opera House, a position he held until his death in 1759. Although he was always very private, there are countless indications that suggest he had homosexual tendencies.
The catalogue of works by George Frideric Handel is known by the acronym HWV , which stands for Handel Werke Verzeichnis (German for Catalogue of Handel's Works). It is not arranged chronologically but thematically, by type of work, genre, and whether vocal or instrumental. It comprises 612 works plus 25 supplements and doubtful or lost works, and was compiled between 1978 and 1986 in three volumes. The exact number of compositions is therefore difficult to determine. Its author is the musicologist Bernd Baselt .
The Best of Handel
0:00:00 SOLOMON, HWV 67: ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
Metamorphose String Orchestra, Pavel Lyubomudrov Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: 0:03:04 I. Overture .-. 0:10:51 II. Bourrée .-. 0:12:34 III. La Paix (Largo alla Siciliana) .-. 0:15:40 IV. La Rejouissance (Allegro).-. 0:17:35 V. Minuetto I .-. 0:19:13 VI. Minuetto II Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra, Peter Illenyi .-. CONCERTO GROSSO IN B-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 3 NO. 1, HWV 312: 0:21:35 I. Allegro .-. 0:25:03 II. Long .-. 0:30:23 III. Allegro Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra, Peter Illenyi .-. CONCERTO GROSSO IN B-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 3 NO. 2, HWV 313: 0:32:16 I. Vivace .-. 0:34:39 II. Long .-. 0:37:59 III. Allegro .-. 0:40:12 IV. Menuet .-. 0:42:06 V. Gavotte .-. Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra, Peter Illenyi CONCERTO GROSSO IN G MAJOR, OP. 3 NO. 3, HWV 314: 0:46:28 I. Largo e staccato – Allegro .-. 0:50:22 II. Adagio .-. 0:51:40 III. Allegro Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra, Peter Illenyi .-. CONCERTO GROSSO IN F MAJOR, OP. 3 NO. 4, HWV 315: 0:55:51 I. Andante - Allegro – Lentement .-. 1:03:50 II. Andante .-. 1:06:08 III. Allegro .-. 1:08:03 IV. Alternative Minuetto Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra, Peter Illenyi .-. CONCERTO GROSSO IN D MINOR, OP. 3 NO. 5, HWV 316: 1:11:12 I. Grave .-. 1:13:22 II. Allegro .-. 1:16:05 III. Adagio .-. 1:18:16 IV. Allegro ma non troppo .-. 1:20:06 V. Allegro Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra, Peter Illenyi .-. 1:23:53 SUITE NO. 11 IN D MINOR, HWV 437: III. Sarabande .-. 1:26:42 SUITE NO. 7 IN G MINOR: VI. Passacaglia Metamorphose String Orchestra, Pavel Lyubomudrov .-. ORGAN CONCERTO IN IN B-FLAT MAJOR, HWV 294 (ARR. FOR HARP): 1:34:26 I. Andante – Allegro .-. 1:38:32 II. Larghetto .-. 1:43:06 III. Allegro moderato Maria Chiossi.-. 1:45:38 SUITE NO. 1 IN B-FLAT MAJOR, HWV 434: IV. Menuet Vadim Chaimovich .-. 1:49:49 XERXES, HWV 40: Ombra Mai Fu (Largo) (Arr. for Piano) Harrison Sheckler .-. 1:54:27 RINALDO, HWV 7: "Lascia ch'io pianga" (Live).-. 2:00:02 GIULIO CESARE IN EGITTO, HWV 17: "V'adoro, pupille" (Live) Carlo Balzaretti, Chu Tai-Li .-. SUITE IN F-SHARP MINOR, HWV 431 (LIVE): 2:05:04 I. Präludium .-. 2:07:07 II. Long .-. 2:09:33 III. (Fugue) Allegro .-. 2:12:41 IV. Gigue Daniela Manusardi .-. 2:16:04 TE MESSIAH, HWV 56: No. 23, Hallelujah Caecilia Consort, Ensemble Vocale Aenigma, Schola Cantorum San Gioachimo, Antonio Eros Negri, Alessio Raimondi
Maria Agata Szymanowska , maiden name Marianna Agata Wołowska (1789–1831), was a Polish composer and pianist. Idolatized in her lifetime and unjustly forgotten after her death, she was one of the first professional female virtuosos of the 19th century . During the 1820s, she traveled extensively throughout Europe before settling permanently in Saint Petersburg . In the Russian imperial capital, she composed for the court, gave concerts, taught music, and ran an influential salon. Her compositions—particularly piano pieces, songs, and other small chamber works, as well as piano études and nocturnes—represent the brilliant style of the pre- Chopin era.
A nocturne is a piece of vocal or instrumental music with a sweet melody and free structure. The term "nocturne" was initially used in the 18th century to refer to a piece played intermittently, usually at evening parties, and then set aside. Sometimes it carried the Italian equivalent, notturno , as in works such as Mozart 's Notturno in D for four orchestras, K. 286 , and Serenata Notturna, K. 239. At that time, these pieces were not necessarily inspired by or evocative of the night, but rather were written to be played at night, as is the case with serenades .
In its most common form (that is, as a single-movement piece generally written for solo piano), the genre was cultivated primarily in the 19th century . The first nocturnes written under that name were composed by John Field , generally considered the father of the Romantic nocturne , which features a characteristic cantabile melody with an arpeggiated accompaniment, even very similar to that of a guitar. However, the most famous exponent of this music was Frédéric Chopin , who wrote 21 works in the genre.
Szymanowska 's Nocturne in A-flat Major, "Le Murmure," is structured by alternating melodic, cantilena -like passages (lyrical) with more chordal sections of a denser texture. The work belongs to the realm of small, intimate salon virtuosity: conceived for solo piano, with a certain brilliance, but also with an intimate component, ideal for chamber music settings or more personal concert halls.
Today it is offered to us by the American pianist Nancy Fierro .
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was an Italian composer of 39 operas, numerous songs, some piano works, and some sacred music. He began composing at the age of 12; Rossini 's early compositions include numerous sacred pieces, an opera, several overtures, and a modest amount of instrumental music, much of it in the style of the early Viennese school of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven . In 1812, he was engaged by La Scala in Milan, where he achieved a memorable success with "The Touchstone." The following year, he premiered his first serious opera, " Tancredi, " in Venice , and soon after, another great success, "The Italian Girl in Algiers . " In 1815, he settled in Naples, where he wrote regularly and without pressure, with regular rehearsals and deadlines. In 1822, he moved to Vienna, where he met the admired Beethoven . From Vienna to London , back to Paris , and after the premiere of his last opera, William Tell , he left opera at the height of his economic and popular success at the age of 37. He died at the age of 77.
Opera (from the Latin opera, plural of opus, "work") is a musical genre that combines symphonic music, usually performed by an orchestra, and a dramatic text—expressed in the form of a libretto—sung vocally by singers of varying ranges: primarily soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto for women, and tenor, baritone, and bass for men, in addition to children's voices and falsetto voices (castrato, countertenor). The instrumental part typically includes overtures, interludes, and musical accompaniments, while the vocal part can be a chorus, a solo, a duet, a trio, or various combinations, and can take on diverse structures such as recitative or aria.
It should also be noted that within the dramatic musical genre there are various subgenres, such as classical opera, chamber opera, operetta, musicals, singspiel, and zarzuela . Furthermore, as in theater, there is dramatic opera ( opera seria ) and comic opera ( opera buffa ), as well as a hybrid of the two: dramma giocoso . As a multidisciplinary genre, opera brings together music, singing, dance, theater, set design, acting, costumes, makeup, hairstyling, and other artistic disciplines. It is therefore a work of collective creation, essentially originating from a librettist and a composer, and where vocal performers play a primary role, but where musicians and the conductor, dancers, set and costume designers, and many other figures are equally essential. Moreover, it is a social event, and therefore has no purpose without an audience to witness the performance. For this very reason, it has been throughout time a reflection of the various currents of thought, political and philosophical, religious and moral, aesthetic and cultural, typical of the society where the works were produced.
The Best of Rossini
00:00 Il barbiere di Siviglia .-. 06:50 The mushroom scale.-. 12:57 L'Italiana in Algeri .-. 21:00 Il Signor Bruschino .-. 25:30 Il Turco in Italia .-. 34:00 La Cenerentola .-. 42:00 The marriage change .-. 47:20 The stone of the paragone.
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) was a celebrated Catalan composer and pianist, a student of Felipe Pedrell . Thanks to the support of Guillaume Morphy , Count of Morphy , a composer and patron of the arts, he received a scholarship to study at the Brussels Conservatory in 1876, completing his studies in 1879. A virtuoso piano composer, Albéniz also composed music for other instruments and dedicated more than a decade of his nearly forty-nine years to writing works for the theater, such as his most successful operatic work, Pepita Jiménez; he also performed concerts and recorded his opera Merlin. During his career, he wrote more than two dozen songs, as well as several orchestral and chamber pieces.
Isaac Albéniz 's "Sevilla" is the third piece in the " Suite Española, Op. 47 " and is one of the most emblematic works in the classical guitar repertoire, although it was originally written for piano. Numerous guitar transcriptions exist, the most famous being that of Andrés Segovia , who made the piece a standard in the guitar repertoire. In this piece, Albéniz evokes the Andalusian atmosphere, with clear references to flamenco: the rhythm, the ornamentation, and the scales used (Phrygian mode, for example) are reminiscent of guitar playing and flamenco singing. Although Albéniz was a pianist, his music is so idiomatic for the guitar that many of his works, like this one, are perfectly suited to the instrument.
Today we present Sevilla by Albéniz in a version for guitar by the Basque guitarist Andrea González Caballero ( Eibar 1992) winner of several international competitions and cited by the British magazine BBC Music Magazine as one of the best young international guitarists .
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The concerto is a musical form written for one or more solo instruments accompanied by an instrumental ensemble. It was Vivaldi who established the fundamental basis of its structure with three movements ( I fast-II slow-III fast ) and presented it as a dialogue between the soloists and the instrumental ensemble. From the Classical period (1750-1810), especially following the foundations laid by C.P.E. Bach , the first movement is constructed according to the patterns of sonata form (exposition, development, and recapitulation) , while the second and third movements adopt free and specific forms. Frequently (though not always), at the end of the first and/or third movement, the soloists have an unaccompanied cadenza with which to showcase their virtuosity.
George Frideric Handel 's Harp Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 4, No. 6 (HWV 294) is one of the most outstanding works in the Baroque harp repertoire, although it was originally composed for organ as part of his Concerti grossi Op. 4. This concerto has become especially popular in its harp version, partly due to the scarcity of original Baroque repertoire for this instrument.
Structure. This concerto follows the typical Baroque structure of three contrasting movements, although some performances may include an optional fourth movement (a brief cadenza or improvisation): I (0'13") ALLEGRO. A movement typical of the Italian style, with a clear influence from the concerto grosso model, in which sections of the tutti (full orchestra) alternate with solo harp passages. All of this is expressed with a lively and majestic character, with elegant and ornamented melodic lines. II (6'10") LARGHETTO. A slow, lyrical, and introspective movement. A thinner texture, often with reduced accompaniment to allow the harp's melodic line to stand out. Here the harp displays its expressive capacity and sonic delicacy. In the original version, open spaces (6'38", 9'32", and 10'54") are left for the soloist's improvisation, something very typical of the Baroque period. - III (11'51") ALLEGRO. The final movement is lively and dance-like. Also, like the first, it is in ritornello form, with contrasting sections and much dialogue between harp and orchestra.
Today's version is offered by harpist Rosa Díaz Cotán accompanied by the Almería City Orchestra conducted by British maestro Michael Thomas .
Opera was born at the end of the 16th century , as an initiative of a circle of scholars (the Florentine Camerata ) who, upon discovering that ancient Greek theater was sung, conceived the idea of setting dramatic texts to music. Thus, Jacopo Peri created La Dafne (1597), of which only the libretto survives today, followed by Euridice (1600), by the same author. In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi composed La favola d'Orfeo , where he added a musical introduction he called a " symphony ," and divided the sung parts into " arias ," giving structure to modern opera. The subsequent evolution of opera has run parallel to the various musical currents that have succeeded one another over time: the Baroque period , spanning the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries , was a time when art music was reserved for the social elite; but it produced new and rich musical forms and saw the establishment of its own language for opera, rich and complex not only in compositional and vocal methods, but also in theatrical and scenographic production.
The second half of the 18th century saw the rise of Classicism , a period of great creativity marked by the serenity and harmony of its compositions. The 19th century was defined by Romanticism , characterized above all by the individuality of the composer, now considered an enlightened genius and increasingly venerated, as were the greatest vocal figures, who became stars in a society where the bourgeoisie relegated the aristocracy from social prominence. This century witnessed the emergence of musical variations in numerous nations that had previously lacked a strong musical tradition, in what came to be known as musical nationalism . The century closed with movements such as French Impressionism and Italian Verismo .
In the 20th century, opera , like the rest of music and the arts in general, entered the avant-garde , a new way of conceiving artistic creation in which new compositional methods and techniques emerged, expressed in a wide variety of styles, in an era of greater dissemination of the media that allowed reaching a wider audience through various channels (radio, television, internet...) and not just the face-to-face one, and in which the wide musical repertoire of previous periods is still valued, which remains current in the main opera houses of the world.
The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) is a comic opera in two acts with music by Gioachino Rossini and an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini , based on the comedy of the same name (1775) by Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais . The premiere, under the title Almaviva , or the Useless Precaution , took place on February 20, 1816, at the Teatro Argentina in Rome . The plot recounts the adventures of a pair of lovers , Count Almaviva and the young Rosina , and Bartolo , the girl's tutor, who also courts her despite the age difference. To thwart him, the couple enlists the help of the barber Figaro , who, through a series of schemes, deceives Bartolo and manages to unite the lovers in marriage. Rossini 's The Barber has proven to be one of the great masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as "the opera buffa of all opera buffas."
The version we offer today is conducted by the Italian maestro Gabriele Ferro.
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) was born in Nelahozeves , then Bohemia and now the Czech Republic , and is considered one of the great masters of the second half of the 19th century and a leading representative of Czech nationalism. In 1847, he entered the primary school in his village, where he received his first musical instruction. During the 1860s, he played viola in the Orchestra of the Bohemian Provisional Theatre , conducted from 1866 by Bedřich Smetana . In 1873, he achieved worldwide acclaim for his collection of Slavonic Dances and was subsequently recognized with numerous prestigious international awards. Throughout his life he wrote music for piano, for violin and piano, trios, quartets, quintets, a sextet, two sets of Slavic dances, serenades, suites, overtures, three rhapsodies, five symphonic poems, nine symphonies, several concertos, 100 songs and vocal duets, and several operas. His New World Symphony is a very well-known work, and its themes have been widely used in popular music.
Catalogue of Dvořák 's works . His works are classified by their Opus number (from the Latin opus 'work'; op. abbreviation) which is a term used in music to catalogue the works of most composers since the 17th century .
The Piano Quintet Op. 81 No. 2 in A major was composed between August 18 and October 8, 1887, and premiered in Prague on January 6, 1888. The quintet is recognized as one of the masterpieces of the form, alongside those of Schumann , Brahms , and Shostakovich . Structured in four movements, it blends Dvořák 's characteristic expressive lyricism with elements of Czech folk music; these elements include styles and forms of song and dance, but not actual folk melodies.
Structure : I (1'34") ALLEGRO, MA NO TANTO. The first movement opens quietly with a lyrical cello theme over piano accompaniment, followed by a series of elaborate transformations. The viola introduces the second theme, which is another lyrical melody. Both themes are developed, and the movement closes with a free recapitulation and an exuberant coda. II (16'14") DUMKA: ANDANTE CON MOTO. The second movement presents a melancholic piano theme separated by quick, joyful interludes. It follows a seven-part rondo pattern, ABACABA . III ( 29'56 " ) SCHERZO (FURIANTE): MOLTO VIVACE. The third movement is marked as a Furiant , a fast-paced Bohemian folk dance. The cello and viola alternate a rhythmic pizzicato beneath the first violin's main melody. The slower trio section of the scherzo also derives from the furibundo theme, with the piano and violin alternating between the main melodies. The rapid Bohemian folk dance returns, and the movement ends aggressively, setting the stage for the polka in the final movement. IV (34'19") FINAL: ALLEGRO The finale is joyful and energetic. The second violin takes the theme into a fugue in the development section. In the coda , Dvořák writes tranquillo for a chorale-like section, which presents the movement's theme this time ascending and played pianissimo, before the tempo quickens and the quintet rushes to the end.
Today it is offered to us by the quintet formed by Lindsay Deutsch and Bei Zhu (violins), Paul Neubauer (viola), Gary Hoffman (cello) and Weiyin Chen (piano).
Trisutji Djuliati Kamal (1936–2021) was an Indonesian composer. Born in Jakarta , she grew up in the Langkat Sultanate of Binjai, Sumatra . She studied piano and composition with Henk Badings at the Amsterdam Conservatory and continued her studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome . After completing her studies, Kamal returned to Indonesia in 1967 and began working as a musician and composer. In 1994, she founded the Trisutji Kamal Ensemble , which performs with two pianos, traditional Indonesian singing, instruments, and dance. She died at the age of 84. Her compositions include orchestral, chamber, choral, solo piano, opera, ballet, and film music, often incorporating elements of gamelan music and Islamic culture, as well as combining traditional Indonesian and Western instruments.
A symphonic poem is a free-form orchestral work, generally based on a literary text, whose purpose is to evoke sensations or feelings through a pre-established narrative. It typically consists of a single movement and is written for orchestra, although it can also be for piano or small instrumental ensembles. Franz Liszt is considered the father of the symphonic poem, having composed as many as 13 works in this genre, which quickly became widespread during the Romantic period.
Today we offer a work of this genre written by the Indonesian composer Trisutji Djuliati Kamal and performed by the Jakarta City Philharmonic.
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Pedro Iturralde Ochoa (1929-2020) was a composer and saxophonist from Navarre, born in Falces . He was a Professor at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid , where he taught saxophone from 1978 until his retirement in 1994. His self-taught training included saxophone, clarinet, piano, and guitar, and later violin. At the age of thirteen, Iturralde was already playing professionally in towns in Navarre . At sixteen, a contract at a café in Logroño allowed him to further his violin and piano studies. A year later, he was playing in national concerts with an orchestra directed by pianist Francisco Manuel Allo and immersed himself in the world of jazz. Iturralde is the only musician from Spain included in the Larousse Dictionary of Jazz .
The saxophone , also known as the sax, is a conical musical instrument, belonging to the woodwind family, usually made of brass. It consists of a mouthpiece with a single reed, similar to a clarinet. It was invented by Adolphe Sax in the early 1840s. Based on the clarinet, an instrument he played, he began to conceive the idea of building an instrument that had the power of a brass instrument and the acoustic qualities of a woodwind, a kind of " brass clarinet ." It comes in eight sizes: sopranino saxophone in F or E-flat , soprano saxophone in C or B-flat , alto saxophone in F or E-flat , tenor saxophone in C or B-flat , baritone saxophone in F or E-flat , bass saxophone in C or B-flat, contrabass saxophone , and subcontrabass saxophone in C or B-flat .
A saxophone quartet is a chamber music ensemble consisting of a soprano saxophone, an alto saxophone, a tenor saxophone, and a baritone saxophone. The term also refers to musical forms written for this type of ensemble, which in classical music are often modeled after the string quartet . Due to the versatility of the instrumentalists involved, there are numerous variations of this formation. There is the "American" configuration, composed of two altos, one tenor saxophone, and one baritone saxophone, although saxophone quartets consisting of a soprano saxophone, an alto saxophone, a tenor saxophone, and a baritone saxophone are more common. Less frequently, we also find quartets of soprano saxophones, alto saxophones, or tenor saxophones, and even some that include less common instruments, such as the sopranino saxophone or the tubax (a variant of the contrabass saxophone).
Meghan Trainor (born 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. The daughter of a musician, she began singing at age six and writing songs at age eleven. She wrote, recorded, and produced two unofficial studio albums and one EP, which she released independently between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. In 2014, Trainor rose to fame with the release of her official debut single, "All About That Bass," which became a commercial success and charted in several countries. Her debut studio album, Title (2015), reached number one on the US Billboard 200 and spawned four top-fifteen singles on the Billboard Hot 100 : "All About That Bass," "Lips Are Movin'," "Dear Future Husband," and "Like I'm Gonna Lose You." Title has sold over three million copies in the US .
Miguel Aceves Mejía was a Mexican singer and actor; he was born on December 13, 1915, in Chihuahua , the son of Miguel Aceves and Herminia Mejía . From a young age, he worked as a shoeshine boy and newspaper vendor, as his father died when he was four years old. His first performances were in his hometown, as well as in Monterrey , and later in Los Angeles , where he recorded his first album with the trio Los Porteños . Despite his immediate success in Los Angeles , he told his colleagues that his dream was to return to Mexico . There, he would line up every morning from 7 a.m. hoping for an opportunity until Fernando Fernández introduced him to a television program when one of the singers fell ill.
His talent and interpretive style opened the doors to success, as evidenced by the more than two thousand songs he recorded, which established him as the King of Falsetto . His popularity led him to venture into film. After appearing in ten movies, he made his starring debut in 1954 in the film A los cuatro vientos (To the Four Winds), alongside Rosita Quintana . Miguel and Rosita were so well-received as a couple that the producers decided to reunite them in other films. On November 6, 2006, Mejía passed away in Mexico City at the age of 90, due to pneumonia.
Ayliva (born April 4, 1998, in Recklinghausen, Germany ) is a German singer and musician. Her first single reached the German charts in 2021, and her success has continued since then, including her second album, Schwarzes Herz , which topped the German charts in 2023. Ayliva has Turkish roots and grew up in Recklinghausen with an older sister and a younger brother. She learned to play the guitar, keyboard, and violin, and began composing songs at the age of 10. After graduating from high school, she studied philosophy and German studies at Ruhr University Bochum with the goal of becoming a teacher and later a social worker. She eventually left university to focus on her music career.
Starting in October 2020, Ayliva began posting song samples on Instagram , with "Deine Heimfahrt" being the first. She also started posting samples on TikTok . Her debut single, "Deine Schuld" (Your Fault), reached number 16 in Germany . Her debut album, "Weißes Herz" (White Heart) , was released in June 2022 and peaked at number 6 on the German album charts, with the single "Bei Nacht" (At Night) reaching number 13. In January 2023, she released "Sie weiß" ( She Knows ) featuring German rapper Mero , which reigned at number 1 on the German charts for two weeks and remained in the top three for nine more weeks; it was the third most popular song of 2023 on the German charts. Her second album, Schwarzes Herz (Black Heart) , was released in August 2023 and reached number 1 on the charts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland , as well as breaking streaming records for a female artist in Germany . The song "Hässlich" (Ugly) from the album also reached number 1 in Germany , and other songs reached the top 10. She won the Bambi Award for Most Successful Female Artist of the Year in 2023. In 2025, Ayliva became a coach on the thirteenth season of The Voice Kids .
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Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer who graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and wrote works in various genres, though he achieved his greatest success with his ballets. In 1859, he obtained a civil service position in the Ministry of Justice , which he left after three years to dedicate himself solely to music. His personal life was plagued by continuous crises, beginning with the death of his mother and compounded by his repressed homosexuality, which led him into a marriage that lasted only a few months. He wrote more than 150 compositions, including piano works, quartets, suites, symphonies, concertos, choral pieces, cantatas, operas, and ballets. He died at the age of 53 and is considered one of the greatest composers in history.
Sleeping Beauty , one of the most frequently performed ballets in the classical repertoire, is a fairy tale/ballet structured in a prologue and three acts, whose music was written by Tchaikovsky in 1889 with choreography by Marius Petipa and a libretto by Ivan Vsevolozhsky and Petipa himself; the plot was based on the story of Sleeping Beauty in the woods , which is about a young princess condemned to sleep eternally until true love comes into her life.
Today we offer the entire ballet performed by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Ballet .
The Cuándo is a musical style and folk dance originating in the Andean and central provinces of Argentina. General José de San Martín brought it to Chile , where it was widely accepted and its music was first printed. It is a free-form couple's dance characterized by its two rhythms: first, a slow , minuet-like rhythm (0:23) , followed by a lively, gato -like rhythm (3:07). Its name playfully alludes to a man's first romantic encounter with his partner, using a characteristic verse of the style: "Oh, when, my love? When?" The Cuándo belongs to a group of South American dances that emerged during the Spanish American Wars of Independence , characterized by the "creolization" of European musical and choreographic forms. In this case it is a modification of the French gavotte, a palace dance made up of two parts: a minuet and an allegro .
Kathakali is a classical dance-drama style from Kerala , in southern India . In it, singers narrate Hindu legends (from the Mahabharata, Ramayana , and Bhagavata Purana ) which the dancers/actors bring to life on stage through a complex language of nrta (dance steps), mudras (hand gestures), and navarasya (facial expressions). Traditionally, Kathakali is performed at all-night festivals in Hindu temples. Kathakali belongs to the tandava (male) branch of Indian classical dance, so traditionally all the characters are portrayed by men. Kathakali dancers learn to control their facial muscles. Some masters have such good control that they can laugh with only one side of their face.
Flamenco is an art form originating in Andalusia that combines various elements such as dance, song , and guitar . A product of the cultural fusion of Gypsy, Arab, Christian, and Jewish traditions, flamenco is now recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since 2010. The powerful emotion that the artists bring to the stage during their performances and the atmosphere created in a tablao (flamenco venue) make seeing a live flamenco show a highly recommended experience. The dancers interpret each piece with arm movements, body swaying, and footwork specific to each flamenco style, accompanied by the melody of the guitar and the deep voice of the singer.
The evolution of flamenco dance. Modern dance and music are the result of centuries of evolution, integration, and unification of elements from diverse cultures. With the development of flamenco music came the development of flamenco dance , which first appeared, recognizably as a structured dance, in the 18th century . Initially, flamenco focused on the singer's voice; but gradually, in performances held in old cafés, the passion displayed by the dancers on stage began to capture the public's attention, and the dance began to overshadow the singing . In a flamenco show , the role of the flamenco dancer is to physically interpret the lyrics of the song, with smooth and elegant movements that sometimes contrast with intense footwork or turns. In a performance, after the first few bars of music and vocals, when the dance begins, the artist interprets the specific flamenco style with their entire body: arms, legs, and even facial expressions.
Sara Baras (1972) is a flamenco dancer and choreographer born in Cádiz who began her artistic training at the school run by her mother, Concha Baras , in San Fernando . She was part of various companies until 1988 when she founded her own company, Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, with which she premiered several shows that garnered prestigious awards. From then on, she combined performances with her own company with guest appearances with other companies. Among the numerous and prestigious awards she has received, we highlight the 2003 National Dance Prize, the 2004 Gold Medal of Andalusia, and the 2020 British Olivier Award .
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Various Wikipedia articles and relevant information on Artificial Intelligence were used to prepare these texts.
The texts of Videomusicalis are written in Basque, Spanish and English.
