Here we have street musicians playing popular music.
Now, these aren’t the ragged “street musicians” you find slumped on the streets of Portland. No, these are classically trained musicians from the Orquestra Simfònica Del Vallès (Symphony Orchestra of the Valley), and they are playing on the streets of Sabadell, Spain, a town about 15 miles northwest of Barcelona. So they are street musicians. Sort of…
And the music has been enduringly popular since it was first performed 193 years ago. YouTube videos of this performance have had around one hundred ten million views since this original was posted five years ago.
So yes, street musicians playing popular music.
Okay, it’s true, it’s classical music. It’s from the fourth and last movement of Beethoven’s last symphony, the Ninth, first performed in 1824. But who could not like this? A hundred million YouTube viewers can’t be wrong, right?
Since you survived listening to classical music, I have to say “But wait! There’s more! Today I’m throwing in a free bonus!” Here are five interesting take-aways from this video:
The next time you are in the mood to stay home and watch a good movie I’d like to suggest 1984’s Academy Award winner Amadeus.
Detail of a never-finished portrait of 26-year-old Wolfgang Mozart at the piano. The painting was done in about 1782 by the brother-in-law of Mozart’s wife, Constanza. Later in life Constanza told biographers that this was by far the best likeness of her husband.
I understand that most people, when presented with the idea of watching a movie about a bunch of classical musicians in knee socks and wigs, respond first by cringing, then by asking “Why would I want to see a movie about Mozart?”
I would answer “Because it’s a really good movie.”
I know people who were dragged kicking and screaming to the movie when it was first released, but who’ve since enjoyed it again and again. After all, it did win eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. (For some technical reason, Mozart himself wasn’t eligible for an Academy Award for the music, so somebody else won the award for Best Musical Score that year. Just goes to show what an Academy Award is really worth…)
In any case, Amadeus uses some of the greatest music ever composed to tell the story of this great composer and — dear to my heart –pianist. Fortunately the dialogue is in contemporary American English, so it’s easy to understand.
The plot portrays the Italian composer Antonio Salieri, a contemporary of Mozart, as jealous of Mozart’s talent. In his old age, Salieri confesses to a Catholic priest his jealousy and frustration with his own lack of talent when compared to Mozart, and his efforts to sabotage Mozart. In Salieri’s flashbacks he beautifully describes and explains Mozart’s music, which is an elemental part of what makes the movie so engaging.
Here are two short clips that gives some flavor of the movie:
I should say that the underlying plot of the movie is complete nonsense. It’s based on a scurrilous 1832 play by the Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin, who built it on rumors that had lived for decades prior to Salieri’s death in 1825. It’s grossly unfair to Salieri.
While his music is largely forgotten today, Salieri remains a significant figure in the development of opera (if that’s your thing…), having written operas in German, French, and Italian, a notable accomplishment by any standard. He also taught the composers Ludwig von Beethoven, Franz Liszt, and Franz Schubert. What’s more, after Mozart’s death in 1791, Salieri taught Mozart’s youngest son, Franz, who showed some of his father’s natural talent and who went on to become a moderately successful musician and composer in his own right. A music teacher doesn’t gain students of that caliber unless he or she is a tremendous talent, which Antonio Salieri certainly was.
So never mind that the plot is pure fiction. Check out this movie. You’ll be glad you did.
UPDATE: At some point a “Director’s Cut” was released on DVD. This has added material that isn’t suitable for children, defames Constanza Mozart, and changed the rating from PG to R. Given a choice, I’d certainly stick with the original version.
Copyright 2017 — 2021 by Toni Pfau. All rights reserved.
Contact Toni Pfau at:
503-358-5359
13530 N.W. Cornell Road
Portland, OR 97229
Toni.L.Pfau@gmail.com
Most people know the piano is filled with strings. But in a world where guitars are common and harps are familiar, it doesn’t occur to people that plucking a string isn’t the only way make it vibrate. Tapping it with a hammer works, too. No, not a carpenter’s hammer; a little felt hammer, the way one plays a hammered dulcimer.
That’s basically how a piano works, but with one hammer per key. Push a key and the little felt-and-wood hammer flicks up and strikes the string. Push lightly and the hammer flicks up gently, making a quiet sound. Strike the key hard and the hammer flicks up hard, making a louder sound.
This short video shows how pressing a piano key actually produces the sound:
As you can see from this video, a real, live acoustic piano (as opposed to a digital piano) is a very complex mechanical system. It is complex precisely so the piano has the flexibility, in the right hands, to be a profoundly expressive musical instrument, able to play fine, feathery passages one second and loud, thundering passages the next, or even both at the same time.
Digital pianos, while less complex, can still be somewhat complex mechanically as they strive to duplicate the feel and associated abilities of the finest acoustic instruments. The best digital pianos (which, make no mistake about it, are very, very good pianos) exchange, in part, mechanical complexity for electronic complexity. The trade off has been between playability and sound quality on the one hand, and affordability on the other. The gap has been closing for the last 30 years. The result is that good (digital) pianos today have become far more affordable, and this magnificent instrument is far more accessible than at any time in history.
So why bother with all that complexity? This second video briefly illustrates the components of the mechanical system and explains, at least to some degree, how they give the piano its abilities:
If this all seems confusing and overly complex, just remember that the first modern pianos were invented by Germans, back before they had Porsches, Mercedes, and BMWs to over-engineer.
And it has been mostly Japanese companies that have developed and refined the modern digital piano.
Go figure.
Copyright 2017 — 2021 by Toni Pfau. All rights reserved.
Contact Toni Pfau at:
503-358-5359
13530 N.W. Cornell Road
Portland, OR 97229
Toni.L.Pfau@gmail.com
