Classical Music Over The Last Few Months example essay topic

Classical Concert Who likes classical music anyway? That is a question that you may have found me asking a few months ago. As I have listened to the music in class and on my CD that came with the text book, I have noticed that I am growing a little bit more fond of this style of music. I had never really given it a chance until I started attending my younger sister's concerts and really paying attention to the music.

I have realized that classical music isn't half bad. modern rock is still the music for me, but I have really learned to like and respect classical music over the last few months. The last classical concert I attended was a Christmas themed concert last week. Along with Christmas favorites and carols, they played a song called Trepak, by Tchaikovsky. I had heard of Tchaikovsky before, but had never seen any of his music performed live.

My first impression of the concert was that the players were all dressed in black slacks or skirts and white tops. Some of them were wearing festive Santa Clause style hats and some even had garland wrapped around their instruments. The orchestra played first. They were all seated in a very specific order, facing the audience with the conductor standing on a podium in front of them. As they began to play I was very impressed with the level of skill that they played with, being only in high school. It sounded as if I was listening to a CD of professionals playing the songs.

As the conductor lead them through the songs I became very attentive to the playing. I realized that I was actually enjoying classical music. After the orchestra finished playing, the jazz band played a few songs. The jazz band only contained ten different players and their songs were much more up beat and had quiet a few solos. As the concert came to a close I started to become curious about the people who composed the music that these high school kids were performing.

In particular I was interested in Tchaikovsky. I had heard the name before, but didn't know all that much about the man whose music has lasted all this time. When I started my research, on of the first things that I discovered was that Tchaikovsky was a very shy man who put all of his emotions into his music. He was born on May 7th 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia (in the Ural mountains). He first took piano lessons when he was just 7 years old and by the time he was 10, he was attending the school of laws in St. Petersburg. In 1859 he graduated and became a clerk at the Ministry of Justice.

As the young man grew older he became more and more interested in music, and in 1861 he began to study with Anton Rubinstein. When he was 26 he started teaching at the Moscow conservatory. While he was teaching, he wrote some of his most famous works, including the ballet, "Swan Lake" and the very popular, "First Piano Concerto". At the time when he was writing these works they were not very well received.

However, there was a very wealthy widow named Nadezhda Von Meck who had complete faith in Tchaikovsky. In 1877 she started giving him encouragement and money. Throughout the next 13 years, the wrote each other long letters, but they never met. In 1877 Tchaikovsky also met Antonin a Melyukova.

She threatened to kill her self and then Tchaikovsky agreed to marry her. Needless to say, this was not a happy marriage. They were not in love and this hindered the composers writing. Desperate, he tried to commit suicide. He lived apart from his wife and she refused to divorce him. The money that he was receiving from Von Meck, allowed Tchaikovsky to give up teaching and focus more on his music.

During the time that followed, he lived with his sister and wrote his, "Violin Concerto". By 1880 he was the most popular composer in Russia. He spent the next 11 years touring and writing when there was time. In 1891 he finished one of his most famous works, "The Nutcracker", and also wrote his, "Pathetique" symphony.

While in St. Petersburg for the first performance of his "Pathetique" symphony, he contracted Cholera and later died from it on November 6th 1893. During the course of this semester and in particular this assignment, I have learned that there is much more to classical music than just listening to a nameless CD and thinking that it's all the same. If you actually show some interest in the music and what is behind the music, you will get much more out of it. After researching Tchaikovsky, I have learned that just because the music doesn't have words to it, doesn't mean that it doesn't tell a story and contain a tremendous amount of emotion. By going to classical concerts I have also found out that the listening is only part of the experience. The other part is seeing the music played live.

So the next time you find yourself thinking that classical music is just boring violins and pianos, maybe you should give it a fair chance. Who knows? You could be like me, and end up enjoying it more than you ever expected.