This lecture proposes an engaging exploration of the groundbreaking experiments in music composition from the Baroque period to the early 20th century. It aims to celebrate the centenary of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” by tracing the lineage of musical innovation that led to its creation. Through a lively narrative and live keyboard accompaniment, this presentation will offer a fresh perspective on the history of classical music, illustrating how yesterday’s audacious experiments have become today’s classical masterpieces.
Maria Miller blends her career in actuarial consulting with a deep passion for music. Uh so at my presentation I had a piano for uh live demos, but you know this time I’m still going to have some live demonstration in a piano, but because Polifany is not very good with like Zoom features, I’m going to keep most of my um presentations uh as YouTube clips. So now um well today we embarking on a journey through music history and we’re going to see how um audacious experience experiments of composers at the time shaped the music we know and love today from box intricate fuges to Gershman’s jazzy classical mashups um we’re going to explore fun facts uh anecdotes and some audience participation so by the end you might be conducting your in your living room or having a tune you never knew before. So, let’s dive in and celebrate those audacious musical geniuses. Um, and we’re going to start with um Baroque innovator Johan Sebastian Bach. Uh, he was born in 1685 in Germany into huge musical family. So big that uh back at that time in Germany, Bach basically meant a synonym for musician. That’s how large his family was himself. He was married twice and also had 20 children. Lots of them also became musicians themselves. Um as a youngster he was already a wiz on the violin and keyboard. Um he worked various music gigs including organist, church organist or composer, capital meister and um anywhere he went he turn music on his set with his genius. He composed over 10,000 works, canatas, conertos, uh, religious and secular music, you name it. So, um, he basically touched every genre of music that was popular at that time, but opera, um, by the way, speaking of genres at that time, uh, Bach was, um, uh, in a transitioning era from Renaissance to Baroque. And during Renaissance uh the famous genres were motal and mass and most music was religious and sang ac capella and baroque forms were more intricate polifany. It was ortorio opera and what bach was very famous for is puges and corral. So the structure of the pug is very specific and uh it’s very hard to master. It usually involves one subject. It involves an answer and a counter subject. It’s very hard to compose a music that would have a counter subject that complements the subject so well that it sound uh pretty. So, let’s listen to one of the famous feuds. Heat up here. Okay, let’s that was uh just the structure of the tube. It was the box foremost like mastery at the time. And so what I want to point out that um uh we kind of know improvisation as a modern thing but actually during box time during Baroque time most of his composition lots of his composition started as improvisational work and later solidified into um the composition we know and love today. Um there’s there was a famous anecdote about his musical duel with a very famous French organist and uh one of the creators of French counterpoint uh Louis Maran um and according to the legend Marshan uh came to Dresden and got a glimpse of Bach’s improvisational skills and he left the city without even getting a chance to duel him. That how great of Bach improvisational skills were. So um let’s talk about his other innovations. Um one of the greatest innovation of Baj is welltempered cleavier. Basically he wrote a piece for the instrument that never existed which is going to be modern modern piano. Uh back then there was uh clever used to be organ harpsicord or clavicord but um there was a very different instrument of the piano we know today and we perform Bachman today. So what is welltempered cleavier? Is there a poorly tempered cleavier? So the idea of well-tempered cleavier is an instrument where you can play uh pieces in every key uh without compromising the tuning. So how does it work? Uh so let’s talk about the harmonics of uh a sound. So you probably know that each sound has its own frequency. So let’s say the middle a has a frequency 440 htz. And we do know that an uh a octave up is going to be twice as much, which is 880. And uh a octave down is going to be twice as low, which is uh 220. Right? So that’s a uh ratio between octaves uh which is 2:1, but ratio between perfect fifths are 3:2. And so basically what’s happening like in our modern piano when you start with the the very bottom C and you go to the top C um you get seven octaves and the uh the ratio between frequencies is going to be two to the power of seven which is 128. But then you can also get there by stacking uh 12 fifths one on top of the other. um and that ratio is going to be uh 1.5 to the^ of 12 which is 129.74 about that. So that shows us that frequency cannot be combined. So how do we solve this problem? So uh during the box time the most common in intonation was mean tone intonation which is built uh which is uh derived from just intonation. We have a mean tone and we tune everything according to the mean tone. But what that means you can not travel further than couple octaves away for it not to sound u dissonant and some of the intervals is not going to work well and you definitely cannot compose in every single key. So uh one of the solutions for that was uh equal temperament. So you can you can tell that every single key is a little bit off on the piano but it cannot not uh you cannot really hear it with like you know human ear and that lets composers compose in every single key and welltempered cleavier was a work to show that you can compose pieces in every key which is like every major and minor key like another thing about just intonation um it was music probably sounded better. And uh one of the staples of Baroque music is picker third, which is like when um traditional minor tune ends in major like that’s another cool thing about just intonation. When you have just intonation, you can also hear overtones with which are differences in the frequencies. And you can hear differences in a major triad, it gives me an overtone of a tonic. I mean, sorry. And if you have an overtones of a minor triad, it gives an overtone of the sixth, which is not very stable. So that’s what kind of thing you could hear in Baroque music which related to um just intonation or mean tone tuning. So um yeah so Bahan well temperament Bach didn’t invent wellteerment there were other uh people uh experimented with tuning systems a lot back then but he was definitely one of the promoter of well temperament and his uh book welltemper cleavier definitely showcases that. Um so yeah that was basically a proof of concept that uh music can be created in every key and well temperament something works and basically all the pianos right now tuned in well temperament we don’t use anything else to compose modern music so it uh paved the path for like Mozard uh and romantic composers and everyone else so let’s talk about Bach yeah so um he was a profound influence on western classical music he was a great teacher He was um a great family man. Uh and um and one thing about him because he mostly composed in um in church uh he composed church music or religious music. So people at the time didn’t really understand all those complex counterpoints and like even temperaments. So it took until 19th century to discover him and love him because people finally caught up to all this kind of intricate you know he was a science not only musician he was a musical scientist. So that was his experiments that changed the world of music forever. Okay the next one is on my list is George Fred handle. So it was it um he was was born the same year as Bach 1685 but uh he was on a very different track. Uh Bach was local he was very introverted genius created like different counterpoints fuges and stuff but he become a basically a pop star. He was studied in Germany then Italy and then he made it big in London. So his operas were extremely famous. Um they were um uh they were um yeah so he created several several very famous operas but when people got tired of operas he created a new work new uh form uh of music which is English ortorio. Basically, English ortorio is a work uh of art that’s similar to opera and it’s uh performed with voices and a choir, but it doesn’t require any expensive decorations or setups or anything like that, but still has um the music compared to um uh yeah, so as grand as opera, but like on a like on a lower budget. So um one of the most famous oratorries is obviously Messiah uh and um it was premiered in uh written in 1741 premiered in 1742 in Dublin. And according to legend uh when uh king uh George uh heard the Hallelujah chorus he was so moved that he jumped to his feet and he stood up and when the king stands up everyone stands up. So now if you hear a performance of a messiah you can see that everyone stands up during hallelujah of course and according to legend is because once one once upon a time a king stood up. So um yeah um handle was like a rock star of his time was very famous and like let’s hear like one of most of his fa his most famous works performed by um the Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. One thing about handles music that was very popular and um the audacity of that is reusing themes from different operas several times if they’ve worked if they were popular. Also using sequences one of his very famous sequences was descending fifths sequence that works really well and um people use it in modern music a lot. So I have a um another video here. Um I don’t know if it works but basically um most of the common jazz standards like autumn leaves like disco music uses the same harmonies that handle used for his operas uh during like 18th century. Nothing. George Frederick, New York. New York. Fly me to the moon. Let me swing among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on the Jupiter and Mars. In other words, hold my hand. Okay, so the point of the video is like lots of extremely popular hits also work with those harmonies and Handle was like smart to use them a lot to become famous. So here’s Handle’s Legacy. Um, thank you, Hendle. Uh, next, enter the classical era. Um, and we’re gonna start with, uh, genial trailblazer, France, Joseph Hayden, born in 1732 in Austria. Uh, Hayden is of often called Papa Hayden because he is believed to be father of the symphony and father of the string quartet. Uh, symphony as we know today. So um he composed over 100 symphony symphonies and established a standard form movement format that composers still use. Uh Hayden spent most of his career tucked away and at Esther Hazy Palace where he had an orchestra and freedom to experiment and he did experiment. So he’s had a very great sense of humor. Let’s see. Um uh one of his famous symphonies is symphony 94 uh where during the slow second movement we hear the sudden cord that’s supposed to uh wake up um the uh the the concert goer that’s been fallen asleep. Okay, that’s what we’ve been waiting for. Um so yeah that’s his 94 symphony that’s very famous. Another very famous symphony is farewell symphony number 45. You could pro you probably uh saw it in a concert but it’s very famous because in the end of the last movement every uh it’s usually played with like in a candle room and each player of the orchestra stops playing then blows out the candle and leaves until we only have a conductor and a concert master. And the legend here is um when Hayden was working at Esther Hazi Court, uh his musicians work without a break for a long time and they really missing their families and their wives and was his way of telling um his employer to let them go on a vacation. So that was another thing. He also composed 12 London symphonies, one of them dedicated to the death of Mozart. Uh Hayden and Mozart were good friends. Um uh he did yeah great things for the symphony uh including um uh yeah he introduced strings and woodwinds as uh major players in the um in the orchestra and kind of got rid of any oenado that would usually performed by uh clever which is like a piano or harps accord which is a bummer. for piano players. Um but then um yeah he also invented dynamic contrast and basically invented the symphony as we know now. Um so his legacy he set foundation for future symphonic compositions and Mozart uh and I’m sorry Mozart in Beethoven and later romantic period. Um, okay. So, next up, let’s talk about Mozart. And the real innovator, I think, is Leopold Mozart, which is Moser’s father because he was the first one who created a prodigy. Uh, he had the idea fix of teaching his kids music from a very young age. They were very talented, but he started teaching them very young, which was unheard before, and uh to them around Europe to show uh to kings and queens. uh and basically he invented the touring child prodigy. Uh he was the ultimate stage dad. He was also a very famous composer and performer himself. Um yeah. So uh then let’s talk about Mozart. Uh so yeah creating a prodigy if you before Mozart uh there were young uh composers and performers but never as young or documented as Mozart. and Mozart’s father created a wave in Europe of trying to create a prodigy. Then um if you look at the prodigy list uh in Wikipedia, so every single composer or performer we know today was a child prodigy. Basically, there’s no way you can get ahead without being a child prodigy. So yeah, so that’s it. That’s Leapo Mosard, the innovator. Um yeah so let’s uh and now let’s move to uh Wen Amados Mozart who um was very famous from a very young age uh and at the age of five he wrote his uh first piece Okay, pretty good for a 5-year-old, right? Um, so now let’s talk about uh Mozart. Yeah, he was um he created his first uh symphony uh at the age of eight and first opera at the age of 11. Um but he still had financial difficulties throughout his life. He never u he was never really famous during his lifetime. he got very sick and he um died a young age of 35 uh leaving several unfinished work including the recquum. So um yeah even though I’m saying like Moser wasn’t like an innovator his if you dig like deeply his harmonic experimentation was uh not atonal but very interesting some of the cadences including one of his last one comfort in um in his recreum Hat. Um, so just a little story about Requim. In 1791, a mysterious stranger showed up at with a secret commission for recre and the uh he identity was hidden and Mozart already ill become obsessed uh started believing he was writing his own funeral music. Um and allegedly his students as mayor filled uh the gaps later everything he didn’t compose. uh but his wife tried to tried to sell it as his own music just to collect the full payment because they were always struggling with the money. Um yeah so even in final day Moard was pushing musical boundaries and recording remains one of his most revered works and um one of the classical music great enigmas. Um so let’s go to Ma Clemensi the original piano man. So if you haven’t played piano, you probably never heard of this man, but he was really the innovator, underrated innovator of his time. Um he also started playing very young, not as young as Mozar, but by the by the age of 14, he was already in London having a job as a musician. Um what he did in his life, uh he’s he’s called father of the pianoforte because he developed the technique for the piano we use today. Before Clemente, people didn’t really use thumbs to play piano. It was always four fingers and you know not much you can do with that. Um even Mozart wrote to his sister um not to play Clement’s pieces because she’s going to destroy her delicate uh female hand uh because they’re like they were so complex. Uh, one of the uh cool facts about Clemente that um um he was such a famous piano virtuoso that in 1781 uh we have another another piano duel um that was held by Emperor Joseph II. So they actually they both showed up. Um and um emperor uh created a verdict that he praised both. So no one actually lost. But then um it was noted that Clemente had brilliant technique but Moser had both technique and musicality. Uh and later Clemente had nothing bad to say about Mozart. He only praised his uh virtuosity and musicality. And Mozart wrote a very, you know, bad letter saying that Clemente is great, but he just plays too mechanically. There’s no soul in his music. But a fun fact that later uh Mozart used the theme for uh of the sonata he performed at the duel or later, we’re not sure, but he used the theme for the sonata for his latest opera, Overture, the magic flute. You can probably hear the tune. implemented scenario is this uh it would cause a copyright issue during our time but back then composer just borrowed from each other but it also shows that Mozer was very impressed with Clement’s music. Uh yeah so he had bunch of famous students um that’s and he solidified the uh piano technique that we uh know today. So yeah he could walk so uh list could run basically. Um so yeah that’s that’s it with Clementi. Now enter the most famous musical innovator creator of like romantic music Ludik von Beethoven. Um yeah, so arguably the most famous name in classical music and uh the poster child for musical revolution. He was born in 1770 in Germany and he stormed into Vienna in his 20s. He took lessons with Hayden. Um also allegedly he had a couple lessons with Mozart. There was a meeting allegedly. Um so his works usually separated in three periods. uh early influenced by Moses and Hayden middle uh dramatic called heroic and the late period profound and the most famous. So Beethoven in life uh as most of you know was marked by one challenge. He gradually lost his hearing. Imagine the audacity a composer who can’t hear his own music. Yet he continues to create masterpieces. Instead of giving up, Beethoven fought back with music full of passion and innovation. Um so lots of his uh innovations that created the romantic period was dynamic range um which um yeah drastic uh dynamic changes that I believe were related to his loss of hearing because like there’s no way you can hear subtle dynamic changes. Also um he used the new um innovations uh such as um instrument which was a piano and metronome. So he could tell uh he would control have full control over performance of his own pieces giving the orchestra the proper tempo. Um so um yeah so let’s talk about his one of his most famous um piece which is his last symphony the ninth symphony um it was a revolutionary piece because it was the first coral symphony the first time you include chorus in the final movement of a symphony and you know um I know lots of people don’t know much of coral symphony but that one but it actually created a whole movement after Beethoven there was uh you know this older coral symphonies that were created after him, but he was the first one. Um, a fun fact. Yes. So, this is a list of all the coral symphonies. Uh, basically, so um yeah, fun fact about the performance. By the time he composed that um that piece, he was already completely completely deaf. So, uh orchestra hired an actual conductor that would like uh guide the musicians, but Beethoven insisted on conducting it himself. And uh allegedly he was already a couple measure early a couple measures early and the concert master told him that the audience already cheering because he couldn’t even hear musicians perform. So that’s uh yeah audacious experience of Beethoven. Now let’s talk about um yeah let’s listen to O to Joy. So this is the original u Beethoven’s um fourth movement of his squirrel symphony and it’s um it’s a very famous piece. It’s a national anthem of EU. Z on And fire shy. People will be very Okay, this is the famous O to joy written by Beethoven his fourth movements of uh coral symphony. So yeah, let’s move to the next audacious uh original songwriter uh France Schubert. So France Schubert’s life was short and tragic. He was born in Vienna and died in Vienna. Um he was um had very humble origins. His uh mother was a housewife, his father was a teacher. uh but he was recognized early by um that famous Antonio Salieri you can probably know from you know uh his rivalry with Mosart um but still after he studied um cleavier and voice he had to go back to his father’s school and he never kind of made it big he couldn’t get married because he didn’t have enough money uh he lived with his friends um he could never get published but he kept writing music he kept writing songs and he composed over 600 songs and he turned um uh German leader which is an art song from a short fun compositions to a very dramatic and complex uh compositions. Um yeah so he got very sick. He contracted syphilis and died when he was 31 years old uh and never got famous. So yeah very tragic. Um and um you probably heard this composition by him is um a Maria. It’s performed a lot with a Roman Catholic prayer, but actually it was written um uh he he said it for a German poem by Walter Scott and this the name of the poem was um lady uh lady of the lake and um the reason why that’s about the woman who keeps praying to Maria and that’s why it keeps repeating but actually it’s a German song and uh like a very famous piece in German leader but he didn’t mind Roman Catholic born his music so yeah let’s try to hear this if we can but like I can just play you the uh the melody if it’s better the you from it. by the young star. Okay, let’s move to the next innovator. Uh the true innovator uh uh Rehard Vagner. Uh he was born in Germany. Um he’s called the titan of the opera and drama and controversy. He was born in 1830 1813 in Germany and he was on a mission to create an ultimate art form and he called it gizam k a total work of art that combines music poetry visual staging and he didn’t want just an opera he wanted to transport you to another universe his famous opera the ring cycle is four operas that take 15 hours total to perform it’s like total binge watch of an opera but his innovations in opera and beyond were huge. One of the very famous thing that we still use and was invented by Vagner is light motif. Light motif is um little melodies that represent characters or ideas. So let’s listen to right of various light motif. Is this And here’s another life motif written by modern composer John Williams. And you probably recognize it. So that is called the light motif. Basically a character theme invented by Vagner. Um and so um to to uh create his new work of art that he envisioned he designed a spe special opera house in uh in Germany with a hidden orchestra pit for perfect acoustics. Before that opera was not performed but an orchestra pit. The musicians were behind behind the stage but it was never formalized. So he was a person who created an orchestra pit what you usually see at the opera right now. Uh another big um innovation that we owe Vagner is uh invention of modern conducting. So before Vagner conducting was done either by uh the concert master by the music director and it was nothing but just giving people the tempo that they need to perform at. And so um Wagner was the one uh who first um Oh yeah. And also if there were royal um royals in the concert hall, you could not turn back to them. So even if you have an orchestra, you have to like compo uh you have to conduct uh face towards the royals. And so he was the first one who said like he had to always face the orchestra. and he created a conducting technique that we know today that we still use today is uh using the right hand for the tempo and using the left hand for the dynamic range or emotion. So um yeah I would like to show you how the basic of conducting works and so um and maybe you can conduct it to yourself later. So that’s how you conduct in two is one two. Uh if you conduct in three is one and two and three. If you want to conduct in four is down in out and up. So I want to show you how to conduct a famous tune in three which is a happy birthday tune. Okay. So now you know what to do when people sing happy birthday to you. This is the basic of basics of conducting. Now you can kind of know what conductor does if you’re watching the conductor. Um and usually yeah you can you the the idea vagner’s idea of a conductor is a person who actually in charge of music being performed uh in a real time uh rather than just showing the tempo. Um yeah so he said um he can so it’s a storytelling with uh your hands and later another famous conductor Leonard Bernstein says that it’s sculpting in the air so think of conducting that way and thanks to Vagner we have this technique right now um yeah so um he has lots of uh controversy uh in his biography but we’re not going to go into that we just focus on uh you know his innovations Um yeah. Um okay, now let’s go to the next um innovator uh France list. Um he was the first uh true piano superstar. He was a child prodigy and he was told by his father um uh and he started uh publishing music and touring by the age of 12. So as Clemensi invented the piano technique as we know now but uh list created the modern piano technique. One of the very famous um technique that he uses is three hand uh technique and the first time um the first time he started performing that it’s basically uh having uh three distinctive melodies playing played by two hands and first time he had this during his performance um uh it was actually also during the famous piano duo with another uh pianist Talberg. uh people didn’t believe that uh didn’t understand how the three hand technique works. So they would like jump off the seas to see if he actually has another hand. Uh so that’s how impressive his uh piano technique is. But he was not only a composer, he famously arranged bunch of Schubert songs, he arranged everything for the piano and his arrangements are extremely hard to play. Um yeah. So yeah, he also introduced pedal as a um as like another dimension to piano playing. Yeah, he also called pedal a third hand. So um I just want to show you see what the way it’s done. So it’s a very very famous list the most famous list composition laanella and um you can you can totally hear that the melody is there it’s several melodic lines and you can see how the pianist like manages to you know do the jumps Yeah. So all those jumps signify the uh you know the third melody that’s introduced in the middle. Uh no here it’s just a top uh but you know you can still have to play three melody at a time which is like new form of kind of piano polifany. Um so sorry next next up okay so um before we dive into next um innovator is uh let’s talk about scales and modes. So so far in classical music you had major scale and minor scale. So um major keys usually sound happy and minor keys usually sound sad like so here comes a sound versus game of thrones theme. So these scales are like musical DNA. Composer choose um them to set the mood. But if you want um there other flavors they’re called modes. Modes are basically scales with exotic twists originating from ancients and medieval music traditions. So uh for example dorian mode is like a minor scale with a brighter six tone. It gives a soulful jazzy feel. So this is a normal minor and this is dorian mode. You can hear it’s more cheerful. So um this is the idea of a dory mode. So the Lydian mode is uh has a raised fourth note um and it sounds dreamy like um it would make music feel more magical. So this is the mode note. So you can and and this is a normal major. So you can see that like uh but major and minor there were also other modes that came from medieval or ancient music and composer didn’t really try to use it before um until we get to romantic era and one of the person who loved using different modes was Clo dei. Uh he was also a child prodigy of course like everyone else. Um and um so he pioneered musical impressionism. Um and um I can I can probably play a little bit but I’m not sure if you can hear it but like his most famous composition I think it’s like the most famous piano composition ever is cla and it sounds like this. So this is um I don’t know if you heard it but this is kind of I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this piece. This is debushi and um in this particular piece he experiments with a whole tone scale but he also um even created his own modes and own scale and like he wrote a bunch of music that uh would like uses uh several modes uh several modes including created by himself. Uh yeah, so he usually focuses on light and atmosphere and um yeah he was a creator of musical impressionalism. So um yeah I think I think I cannot do much without like showing the full piece but yeah so this is debut the person who used modes to the most uh and thanks for his innovations. Okay, so now let’s talk about uh one piece you definitely heard uh and it’s Rall’s Bolero and um I would say it’s it’s a it was it was composed uh in 1928 and I would say it’s uh one big symphonic crescendo and nothing else defines minimalism as uh removing all the proper forms. Um uh I just want to like I I don’t think you can talk about innovations and audacious experience without the boler. So we can hear a little bit Heat. Heat. So this is a bolero and revel is also mentioned with debus uh as also impressionist the composer. Um deuc was monet revel maybe sarah but he was uh placing musical dots. Um so uh he also used lots of oriental music and he wrote a couple oriental operas. Um his boler is famous about his orchestration. He understands that to create a symphonic crescendo you don’t really you can’t just tell players to play gradually uh louder. Uh you have to include this crescendo in the arrangement. And that’s why this piece is so um interesting both for a listener and for music historian or theorist. So let’s okay let’s move to the next composer who uh created a new movement um minimalism. So uh it’s someone completely different from all other composers we talked about before. Uh he was born in 1866 in France. Um he was a very odd composer. Uh he his his audacity was doing absolutely nothing in a brilliant way. So uh while others wrote grand operas or symphonies, Sati wrote ultra simple repetitive piano pieces uh with very plain titles. So he created a concept that’s called furniture music uh which is basically a music can be played as a background. So you don’t have to go uh and uh to the concert hall to listen to it. And it’s basically what we use music now. We use music in bars, cafes, and restaurants. So thanks to Eric Saiti who created this concept. Um he was uh he studied at Paris Conservatory but he got uh expelled uh and then later uh he accidentally became a godfather godfather of minimalism. Um yeah so his boldest innovation uh is to strip music down to its essence. uh some of the his um pieces don’t even have uh like uh separation into bars. It’s just one tune that keeps floating. Uh like I’m I’m pretty sure you heard that before as like soundtrack for a bunch of, you know, different movies and stuff. But I’m just going to play you a little bit so you get familiar with it. I’m pretty sure you can hear it because it’s very simple. It’s minimalism. This is our um uh godfather of minimalism. Um yeah. Uh I will just say he yeah he inspired later minimalist and composer like John Cage you know famous 433 where musicians don’t play anything at all or uh modern famous composer Philip Glass. Uh I think you have to develop like a taste for music like that because you have to focus on things not played versus things that are played. Uh not for me but maybe some people would enjoy it. Um okay so now before we jump into our next innovator who pioneered a tonality I would like to just explain what a tonality is. So tonality is basic concept of western music where all the notes uh kind of um yeah so it based on higher cal relation between pitches and we also have a central note tonic and the source as a focus. So if you have a play piece in D major or D minor it’s probably going to end on a tonic which is D place in C minor. So you get the idea and uh there are usually a very um concrete relationship between those uh between those notes and chords. So there are certain chords you cannot play after certain chords and like and it all based in the uh circle of fifths. So it’s very hard to explain uh in detail but basically there are very concrete rules to write western music and this these rules are based in tonality. Um yeah so we also have cadances and key centers we have mod relations and it’s very hard to study but this is like the rules of western music that existed so far even composers like Debusi who uh uh experimented with modes still used the tonality as a you know uh to compose his music. So next come Arnold Schoberg and he was a really um uh yeah he is the person who broke tonality. Uh yeah so let’s talk about Audacity. Um he used all the 12 tones equally and without ever trying to establish the key. So when the music um western music is tonal. So even when you experiment with something you have to tell which key the music is in. So some um innovators like Scrabin uh would write very experimental music or even like Mozart I showed you there was very like very interesting chromatic changes but the piece would still have a tonic or the tonic chord. Um what Shamberg did did was um very uh in innovative. He was actually obsessed with uh tonality and he even wrote a book on music theory and tonality where he was extremely like meticulous and focused on details but later he invented his own uh 12 tone technique. So the idea is um uh we abandon traditional tonal centers and we only um we uh we formalize uh we uh create a 12 tone technique uh where you make a sequence of 12 tones and we have to use all the 12 tones that exist in a um in a scale. So you know it’s like you know seven notes is all the 12 tones and basically we put them in order and then based on that order we create the reverse uh we have a retrograde order and we have inversion and we have a retrograde inversion. So it’s not about it’s about the order of the notes. It’s not about which note is the most important and this creates a very interesting um compositions. Um, yeah, I don’t think I can. Um, I don’t think I can play it right now, but uh, yeah, maybe maybe I can like pull up the video later or I can send a link so everyone can hear because it’s uh, you know, Polifany is very, you know, uh, it’s very hard to uh, play it over the YouTube or even play it right here. So, but this is there was a groundbreaking technique. It never kind of caught on. So I don’t think people really write a lot of music in that technique right now, but it was like a very audacious experience at the time. I cannot not mention Schwanberg. Um so and let’s go to the um our last um composer uh George Gershwin. So finally it’s a American composer. Um so his audacity was fusion. Uh he didn’t get any formal training until he was a teen. He started um on Tinpan Alley uh as a songwriter and he kind of got himself a reputation of a songwriter and a pop pop star with his brother Ira um writing songs and uh working on stage. Uh but he had bigger dreams. He loved jazz and classical music and uh thought why not put him together. Uh so uh that’s how we created he created rapsidine blue a little more about his other works um yeah an American in Paris um which also combines street bluesy tunes and actual taxi horns uh and also the opera por and best you probably heard uh and I just want to mention that this opera um right now we call it an opera but it was actually uh debuted at uh Broadway as a Broadway show. So that’s um you know that’s also some some of the change. Um so throughout Gersin’s harmonic language was like spicy and new. He brought in blue notes, swung rhythms and jazz course into symphonic music which is was never done before. Some classical musicians were not happy with his like works but audience actually were delighted. So yeah so his audacity paid off. His music is standard repertoire and a testament to the melting pot of American culture. Uh sadly Gershman died at a young age of 38. Uh but in that short time he changed American music forever. Um so yeah let’s talk about um uh yeah so his other innovation include also um you know implementing different instruments they’re not introduced into orchestra before like saxophones and banos and guitars and uh something that Hayden didn’t invent back then. Um so he syncopated rhythms, irregular meters and everything that usually uh usually uh characteristic of jazz music. So now let’s talk about rapidity blue. So I said this presentation was um uh like homage to 100 years of rapid city blue which like I performed live. But here um um yeah so uh he wrote it in a in a hurry um after see announcement about the concert in the newspaper. It was originally called something else, but his brother uh his brother looked at the painting uh by uh James McNeil Whistler and Dr. V and decided to wrap it into so um uh didn’t write for the orchestra before. So uh his friend Frederick Gro uh offered it to arrange it for piano and orchestra and the famous bliss that you hear in the very beginning of the piece the clarinet bliss was actually improvised during one of the rehearsals so uh they decided to keep it uh so yeah it’s there are lots of orchestrations uh in arrangements that is being performed. I perform it with just a solo piano. I don’t think I’m going to do it right now because you won’t be able to hear, but uh maybe I can send a YouTube link. And this is famous bursting, playing it, and conducting Thank you very Maria. You gave an extremely informative and interesting presentation. Okay, cool. I hope everyone enjoyed. I tried to make it fun. Yes, it was entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you so I’m