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 Click this image for online features related to the 2008 Bloomingdale Piano Project: Sonidos de España/Sounds of Spain. |
Bloomingdale Piano Project
2009: The Three B's: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms —Bathsheba Marcus Conley The term “The Three B’s” is commonly used to link three master composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johannes Brahms. Today musicians and music lovers are so used to the categorization that few of us ever pause to wonder what it is about these composers that inspires their grouping together. Is it simply a case of alliteration? Or is there more of a connection beyond the first letter of their last names? While certainly the alliteration is an attraction, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms each represent the zenith of their musical era. The term “The Three B’s” is believed to have been coined by Hans van Bülow, a German conductor, composer, and pianist who lived from 1830-1894. He was quoted in the 1880s as saying “I believe in Bach, the Father, Beethoven, the Son, and Brahms, the Holy Ghost of music.” The Baroque period is commonly believed to have ended with the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750. J.S. Bach was able to bring together all the techniques of Baroque composers with adept mastery while also being an innovator and firmly establishing musical forms that would be used for centuries after he lived. Ludwig van Beethoven is generally considered to be a composer of the Classical era, however the last years of his life fall within the Romantic period. While Mozart is more similar to Bach in that he was the composer who represents the culmination of the Classical era, Beethoven was a revolutionary, experimenting with new forms, establishing financial independence for composers for the first time, and looking forward to more romantic harmonies and breaks with classicalism. Like Bach and Beethoven in their respective eras, Johannes Brahms was part of the last generation of Romantic composers. He was a traditionalist during a time when many composers were beginning to call for less tonality and a break with past musical harmonies and forms. Brahms’s music epitomizes the idea of romanticism with its pure expressive lines and rhythmic impetuousness. Pianists of all ages and levels are indebted to these three composers who provided such a breadth of repertoire for the student and professional alike to explore. Each composer wrote extensively for the keyboard and one could argue that for all three, but especially for Beethoven and Brahms, the piano elicited their most intimate and personal musical thoughts. With more than two hundred years separating the birth of Bach and death of Brahms, each composer wrote for a dramatically different keyboard instrument and future internet features will discuss in detail how the keyboard evolved throughout the years that Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms were composing. We hope you will join us online each month as we explore the lives and compositions of three composers who left an indelible mark on classical piano literature. And please mark down the date of the Piano Project 2009—April 4th— when Bloomingdale students and faculty will collaborate in performing many of the great keyboard works by these masters. |
 Saturday, April 4, 2009 The Bloomingdale Piano Project includes a lecture and two concerts, as well as monthly online features from November 08 to March 09. Participating Faculty Members Project Curator Bathsheba Marcus Conley Jacob Greenberg Amy Gustafson Roberto Hidalgo Sachiko Kato Katy Luo Tim McCullough Judith Olson Marc Peloquin Jesse Stacken Tania Tachkova Yvonne Troxler Monica Verona Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, David Del Tredici, Charles Ives, and George Rochberg. |
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