daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty - Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale
Music
2008, June 26
QuickTime Default Synthesizer
Choose your sounds.
The sound of QuickTime files on any web page will depend on the synthesizer chosen as the default in the QuickTime Preferences on your computer, found on the Mac OS X in the System Preferences, under the Apple menu at the far left of the menu bar. QuickTime files on this website and the JSBChorales website are made to play with the QuickTime Music Synthesizer set as the Default. Other synthesizers will work, but you may get some strange sounds.
2008, May 26
Ninth chord
A revision of the analysis of the cross relation of April 22, 2008
Here is the original post with sound files of the parts.
A dominant seventh chord is built of four scale degrees: the fifth as the root, the seventh scale degree as the third of the chord, the second scale degree as the fifth of the chord and the fourth scale degree as the seventh of the chord. The fourth scale degree resolves to the third scale degree, thus acting as a passing tone.
Listen to the progression: i V V7 i:
Here is a discussion of chords and seventh chords.
The dominant ninth chord adds the sixth scale degree as the ninth of the chord. In four part writing, one note must be omitted, usually the fifth of the chord, the second scale degree.
Pertaining to the omission of the root of chords, R.O. Morris says: "It seems to the author…that a chord from which the root has to be omitted ceases ipso facto to be that chord at all, and that no suport should be given to so paradoxical a method of classification."
So I have revised my speculation about the analysis of the phrase in BWV 114.7 with the cross relation; I have changed it to the analysis shown below. I think this unnecessarily complex, cumbersome and academic analysis highlights the fact that Bach wrote chiefly with melody in mind and was not concerned with the mental anguish of his students three hundred years later.
Home page for Robert Frank's Theory on the Web.
R.O. Morris, The Oxford Harmony Volume One, Oxford University Press, 1946.
ISBN 0 19 321491 1, p130
2008, March 21
Good Friday, Bach's Birthday and a Full Moon
How to celebrate: the return of music to the church after Lent, with the St. Matthew and the St. John Passions.
March 21 marks the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach. This year it is Good Friday, the day for which the Passions were composed and it is a Full Moon.
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 – will be the earliest Easter Sunday since 1913. Easter Sunday is defined as the first Sunday after the “Ecclesiastical Full Moon” (the Church’s approximation of when a Full Moon will occur, generally within a day of the actual Full Moon) after March 20th, which was the date fixed by the Church as Equinox in 325 AD. The earliest possible Easter Sunday is March 22nd, which last occurred in 1818, and will next occur in 2285. Image of the full moon of March 21, 2008 courtesy of Matt Wedel.
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Gustav Leonhardt conducting the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244.1. |
Jonathan Peter Kenny sings an aria from the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244.39. |
2008, February 02
BWV 830 Partita Six
Glenn Gould plays Bach
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2008, January 27
Craig Smith, Emmanuel Music
Craig Smith died in November 2007.
Craig Smith, the artistic director of Emmanuel Music and the force behind the Emmanuel Music Website, died on November 14, 2007 at the age of 60.
This website has very helpful notes and the best translations of the Bach cantatas and has been very helpful to me in my research.
On January 31, there will be a memorial concert at 7:30pm in the sanctuary of the Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St. Boston, Massachusetts 02116. (617) 536-3355.
Craig Smith, Blue Mass Group obituary.
Craig Smith, Boston Phoenix obituary.
Craig Smith, Boston Globe obituary.
Craig Smith, broadcasts and obituary.
Craig Smith, NY Times obituary.
2008, January 04
James Kibbie and the Bach Organ
Another major work in progress.
James Kibbie is in the process of recording the Bach Organ Works on original 18th-century German organs by Silbermann, Hildebrandt, Trost, and others.
Free downloads of the organ works of J. S. Bach will be available as they are recorded in MP3 and AAC format. This work is sponsored by the University of Michigan
Here is a sample, BWV 659, one of the Leipzig chorales, in AAC format. This is a large file and takes a while to load. Be patient.
I am very impressed with this work and look forward to the Schubler chorales, some of my favorite organ music. I am very grateful that Mr. Kibbie contacted me and requested a link on my website.
2007, April 05
More from Hauptwerk
Cool pictures from Hauptwerk.nl.
The organ sounds for Hauptwerk, by Crumhorn labs, are recorded as samples then published by many sample set producers. Hauptwerk.nl has created sample sets for organs in the Netherlands. Below is one of the church organs they have sampled.
Wouldn't you love to do an organ tour of Europe?
2007, March 18
Hauptwerk Virgual Pipe Organ Software
James Pressler uses Hauptwerk to create his music files at Virtual Baroque.
Hauptwerk is a wonderful program from England; your computer can become a pipe organ. It uses sound samples of organs from all over the world; if attached to an adequate sound system, it can serve as an organ for churches, auditoriums, or in outdoor public spaces.
James Pressler uses Hauptwerk to create all his wonderful mp3 organ files on Virtual Baroque. He occasionally has midi files and a few wav files available also.
Using My Super PC and PC Perspective Hardware Leaderboard as starting points, I recently spent some time virtually building a Windows system that would meet Hauptwerk requirements and I was surprised to find that the cost, though self-built, was comparable to an equivalent Mac system.
Then, a few weeks later, the news broke from Hauptwerk:
Hauptwerk is now available for the Apple Mac (Intel and G4/G5) as well as Windows PCs. It performs so well on the current Mac range and OS X that we now recommend them as an ideal platform for Hauptwerk.
So now you can have the best of both worlds, the Mac world and the Hauptwerk Organ world. You can blow your neighbors' socks off with your virtual pipe organ on your Mac.
