Collection of music videos

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611) was a Catholic priest and celebrated polyphonic composer of the Spanish Renaissance, born in Ávila . At the age of seven, he entered the choir of Ávila Cathedral, where he felt his calling to the priesthood and received his first musical training. At the age of 19, he moved to Rome , where he furthered his studies with the renowned composer Palestrina . In May 1585, Victoria returned to Spain as chaplain to Empress Maria of Austria and organist of the Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales , where he worked for 24 years until his death. Victoria is considered one of the most important and progressive composers of his time, with an innovative style that foreshadowed the imminent Baroque period.

" Pueri Hebraeorum " by Tomás Luis de Victoria is a processional antiphon that forms part of the liturgical repertoire for Holy Week , specifically for Palm Sunday . This piece is one of the many religious compositions by this master of the Spanish Renaissance , considered one of the most important composers of sacred music of the 16th century . The text " Pueri Hebraeorum " translates as " The Hebrew children " ("The Hebrew children, carrying olive branches, went out to meet the Lord, shouting and saying: Hosanna in the highest!") and refers to the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem , when he was received by a multitude who acclaimed him with palms and olive branches. It is traditionally sung during the Palm Sunday procession, which commemorates this event. The antiphon is written for four voices (SATB) a cappella in modal style , as is typical of Renaissance polyphony, with a clear influence of the Palestrina style but with an emotional and expressive character that is characteristic of Victoria .

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), an Austrian composer whose brother Michael was also a notable composer, was one of the principal figures of the Classical period (1750-1810). At the age of six, he began his studies of harpsichord and violin. At eight, he was admitted as a chorister to St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna , where he received lessons in singing, piano, and violin. After his voice changed, he had to support himself by working various jobs while studying composition, analyzing the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach . He laid the foundations for sonata form and the formal structure of the string quartet and the symphony ; he maintained a close friendship with Mozart and was Beethoven 's teacher. He died at the age of 77 in Vienna .

The Creation (Die Schöpfung ) is an oratorio composed by Joseph Haydn between 1796 and 1798 and premiered on April 29, 1798, in Vienna . The work illustrates the creation of the world, as narrated in Genesis . In addition to this book of the Old Testament , its sources of inspiration include the Psalms and John Milton 's Paradise Lost ; Baron Gottfried Van Swieten was responsible for preparing the text. Its premiere took place in Vienna on April 19 and 30, 1798, achieving resounding success, even greater than its performances in England . A year later, it premiered in Paris, London, Berlin, and Prague , always with equal success. From then on, as long as his age and health permitted, Haydn conducted an annual performance of the work in Vienna , generally for charitable purposes. The Creation is one of his masterpieces and one of the greatest choral compositions of the 18th century .

The aria "Nun beut die Flur das frische Grün" ( Now the field offers its fresh green ) is one of the best-known arias from Joseph Haydn 's oratorio The Creation . This aria appears on the fourth day of Creation , when God has caused plants, flowers, and trees to grow on the Earth. The lyrics of this aria celebrate the beauty of newly created Nature, with a pastoral and contemplative tone. It is a hymn to the rebirth of plant life, alluding to green fields, leafy forests, and the vibrant colors that fill the Earth. In this scene, the archangel Raphael sings about the creation of vegetation. It is a profoundly serene, lyrical, and expressive piece of music that conveys a sense of peace, order, and harmony in the natural world.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German violinist, organist, conductor, and composer. He was born in Eisenach into one of history's most prominent musical families, which boasted over 30 famous composers. In 1703, he obtained his first position as a court musician for the Prince of Arndtstadt , and in 1707, he moved to Mühlhausen as organist, where he married his cousin Maria Barbara, with whom he had seven children. After his wife's death in 1720, he remarried a year and a half later to Maria Magdalena, with whom he had thirteen more children. In 1723, he moved to Leipzig , where he resided until his death at the age of 65. A prolific composer, he is considered one of the three greatest geniuses in the history of music, along with Mozart and Beethoven.

The catalogue of Bach's works, or Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis , better known by its acronym BWV , consists of a numbered index of all the composer's works, arranged thematically by genre and whether vocal or instrumental, and used by scholars and musicians worldwide. This catalogue was created in 1950 by the German musicologist Wolfgang Schmieder .

The St. Matthew Passion is an oratorio written for solo voices, double choir, and double orchestra by Bach . It presents the suffering and death of Christ according to the Gospel of St. Matthew and is the composer's longest work. The work is divided into two main parts, between which the sermon takes place. The first part (0:06) corresponds to chapter 26, from the conspiracy against Jesus to Peter 's denial, and the second part (1:32:34) to chapter 27 of the Gospel of St. Matthew, from Jesus ' trial to his crucifixion and burial. The text is sung verbatim by one of the Evangelists , while the other characters in the story ( Christ, Judas, Peter , etc.) are portrayed by different soloists. On the other hand, the biblical text is set to music in a relatively simple manner in recitatives , while the ariosos and arias , long and contemplative, present new poetic texts that comment on the various events of the biblical narrative and lend a more intimate character to the life of Christ . The St. Matthew Passion was performed on April 15, 1729 (Good Friday) in St. Thomas Church in Leipzig under the composer's direction, in a performance for which Bach did not have the necessary resources (in a memorandum to the Leipzig City Council , he complained that only 17 of the 54 choir members had been up to par). After Bach 's death, the work fell into oblivion (as, in general, did all of the composer's work) and it was not until 1829 that Mendelssohn revived it with the Berlin Sing-Akademie in an abridged version. The reinterpretation of this work sparked a strong interest in the study and analysis of Bach 's works, particularly the large-scale ones, which has persisted to this day.

The version we present today is offered to us by the Dutch Bach Society led by the Dutch maestro Josephus van Veldhoven (1952).

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), born in Ziburu/Ciboure (Basque Country, France), inherited his meticulous work ethic from his father, an engineer of Swiss origin, and his passion for music from his mother, born in Mendata (Bizkaia, Spain), who filled his childhood with folk songs. A few months after his birth, the family moved to Paris , where he began his piano studies at the age of six. At fourteen, he entered the Paris Conservatory , where he had the opportunity to study with Gabriel Fauré . In 1901, he premiered his Jeux d'eau , a piano work that helped him gain recognition in Parisian musical circles, where the influence of Ravel on Debussy , and vice versa, was being discussed. In 1921, he settled in a mansion near Paris , where he lived until his death. This mansion became a gathering place for eminent musicians and intellectuals. Regarding his sexuality, some of his biographers claim that Ravel was obsessed with his mother, which caused him to develop a kind of asexuality that prevented him from having intimate relationships with women or men.

Maurice Ravel 's Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello is a chamber work composed in 1914 and dedicated to his counterpoint teacher, André Gedalge . Ravel had been planning to compose a trio for at least six years before beginning serious work on it in March 1914. Initially, Ravel remarked to his student Maurice Gedalge , "I have composed my trio. Now I only need the themes." During the summer of 1914, Ravel carried out his compositional work in the French Basque commune of Saint-Jean-de-Luz . Ravel was born across the bay in the Basque town of Ciboure ; his mother was Basque, and he felt a deep connection to his Basque heritage. While composing the Trio , Ravel was also working on a piano concerto based on Basque themes entitled Zazpiak Bat (Basque for "The Seven Are One"). Although ultimately abandoned, this project left its mark on the Trio , particularly on the opening movement, which Ravel would later describe as having a "Basque flavor." Inspiration for the Trio 's musical content came from a wide variety of sources, from Basque dance to Malay poetry . However, Ravel did not deviate from his usual predilection for traditional musical forms. The Trio follows the standard format of a four-movement classical work, with the outer sonata-form movements flanked by a scherzo, a trio, and a slow movement. Nevertheless, Ravel manages to introduce his own innovations within this conventional framework.

Structure. I (0'13') MODÉRÉ (A minor - C major). According to Ravel , the first movement is inspired by the zortziko , a Basque rhythmic form. The movement is written in 8/8 time, where each measure is subdivided into a 3+2+3 rhythmic pattern. The influence of Zazpiak Bat is most evident in the opening theme, whose rhythm is identical to that of the main theme of Zazpiak Bat , but with note values halved. Ravel employs sonata form in this movement, but with his own distinctive touches. The second theme is presented in the tonic of A minor and reappears without transposition in the recapitulation, but with different harmonies. To avoid overuse of the tonic key, Ravel ends the movement in the relative major of C major . In the recapitulation, the appearance of the main theme in the piano is superimposed on a rhythmically modified version of the second theme in the strings. II (9'21") PANTOUM: ASSEZ VIF (A minor - F♯ major - F♯ minor - F major - A major). This movement is based on a traditional scherzo and an ABA trio form. The scherzo presents two themes: the piano opens with the first theme, with a sharp touch, in A minor , while the strings respond in double octaves with the second, gentler theme in F♯ minor . The movement's name refers to a Malay versical form , in which the second and fourth lines of each four-line stanza become the first and third of the next. III (14'25") PASACALLE: MUY GRANDE (F♯ minor). The third movement is a passacaglia based on the opening eight-bar piano bass line, derived from the first theme of the Pantoum . The cello then enters, followed by the violin. As the melody alternates between the three instruments, the movement unfolds as a single piece to a powerful climax, before fading away. IV (21'38") FINAL: LIVELY (A major). Against a background of violin arpeggio harmonics (previously used by Ravel in his Three Poems by Mallarmé ) and double-register cello trills, the piano presents the first five-bar theme. As in the first movement, irregular time signatures are again used: the movement alternates between 5/4 and 7/4. The trumpet calls in the development section (played by the piano) could be an allusion to the declaration of war in August 1914, which coincided with Ravel 's work on this movement. Being the most orchestral of the four movements, the Finale makes the most of the resources of the three performers, and Ravel rounds off the work with a brilliant Coda .

Today's version is brought to us by the Gaspard Trio : Hyo-Sun Lim (piano), Jonian Ilia Kadesha (violin), Vashti Mimosa Hunter (cello)

Chet Baker (1929-1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and musician. An exponent of the cool jazz style (the West Coast jazz of the 1950s), Baker was popularly nicknamed the James Dean of jazz due to his good looks. This, along with the intimacy and lyrical elegance of his early performances—as well as his distinctive voice for the genre—led to his recognition by both the public and critics when he debuted as a soloist, although he had already made notable appearances with jazz groups such as Charlie Parker & Chet Baker and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet .

Léo Ferré (Monaco, 1916–1993) was a French-born Monegasque singer-songwriter, pianist, and poet. Having composed more than forty original albums over a period of 46 years, he is the most prolific singer-songwriter in the French language. He defined himself as an anarchist, a way of thinking that greatly inspired his work. Along with the Belgian Jacques Brel (1929–1978) and Georges Brassens (1921–1981), he is considered one of the great composers of the chanson . At the age of five, he joined the Monaco Cathedral choir as a treble, where he discovered polyphony through the works of Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria . His uncle, Albert Scotto , the Casino 's theater director, took him to performances and rehearsals where he heard the voice of Fyodor Chaliapin and witnessed Arturo Toscanini conducting, through whom he discovered Beethoven . But what impressed him most was Maurice Ravel 's presence at the rehearsals of L'enfant et les sortilèges . In 1940, for his sister's wedding, he wrote an Ave Maria for organ and cello and began composing music for songs with lyrics written by a friend. After a difficult period, both emotionally and financially, he eventually built a solid reputation, and his songs reached the voices of some of the leading artists of the time: Édith Piaf, Henri Salvador, Yvette Giraud, and Les Frères Jacques . But it was in the singer Catherine Sauvage that he found the most loyal, passionate, and persuasive ambassador for his work.

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) was a German composer. From a very young age, he learned to sing and play the piano, and at the age of 12, he received free lessons in Salzburg from Michael Haydn , brother of Joseph Haydn . In 1812, his father died, and the following year he was appointed director of the Prague orchestra and later of the Dresden orchestra, while working on his most famous opera, Der Freischütz (The Free-Raising Der). He also composed two other operas, Euryanthe and Oberon ; all three are considered by many critics to be masterpieces of the stage opera genre. In addition to other operas, he composed numerous songs, piano works, chamber works, two symphonies, several overtures, concertos and concertante works for various instruments, three masses, and eight cantatas.

Michel Fokine (1880-1942) was a Russian-born American dancer, choreographer, ballet master, and company director. He studied dance at the Imperial School and was a dancer with the Imperial Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg . His comprehensive concept of dance and his innovations in choreography, which revolutionized classical Russian ballet, had an international impact.

The Spectre of the Rose , which we recommend today, is a ballet created by Michel Fokine for a mixed-gender pair of dancers, set to music for piano by Carl Maria von Weber . Invitation to the Dance is the title of the piano work written by Weber , which was later orchestrated by Hector Berlioz . Today, it is presented by the Ballets Russes .

Amalia Hernández (1917-2000) was a Mexican dancer and choreographer who, in 1952, founded the ballet company that bears her name. This company, an emblem of Mexican folk art, is based at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. Amalia dedicated herself to rescuing traditional Mexican dances that had been lost over time, striving to improve their quality. In 1959, President López Mateos asked the group to become one of Mexico 's natural ambassadors. The Ballet Amalia Hernández , also known since then as the Ballet Folklórico de México , boasts more than 60 original choreographies, performing throughout Mexico and undertaking more than 100 international tours, visiting a total of 60 countries.

The Dance of the Yellows comes from the patron saint festivals of the State of Guerrero , Mexico , where Amalia Hernández rescued and popularized it as we present it today.