Exploring the duality of Mozart's personality reveals the complexities within his music, which oscillates between joy and profound seriousness. The study delves into how this ambivalence manifests in his operatic compositions, blending comic elements with tragic undertones. By examining the unique characteristics of his musical language, the work aims to illuminate the connections between Mozart's multifaceted personality and his diverse body of operatic work.
The present autobiography sets out from the contrast between „establishment“ and „outsiders“ in science and scholarship. It portrays a number of prominent composers, conductors and musicologists and seeks to illuminate the nature of the phenomenon of music from diverse vantage points, centering on cultural, biographic, psychological, philosophic, critical, aesthetic and axiological questions. Lutz Lesle (Das Orchester, 2018): At the price of being deemed an outsider, Floros has devoted a major part of his life's work to the semantic dimension of music, from the Viennese Classics to Postmodernism. His endeavor has been to preserve for music the dignity of manifold meaning that the school of bean counters were stripping from it by reducing musical scores to structure-analytical databases. „To simply ignore the spiritual depth dimension of important musical art works,“ the author bluntly proclaims, "and to limit oneself to the investigation of the 'tonal body': to me there is no greater aberration."
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky remains to this day one of the most-performed Russian composers. Based on recent studies and source editions, this book demonstrates the close interrelationship between Tchaikovsky’s life and his work. The author portrays the versatility of the musician who died at the mere age of 53 under controversial circumstances in St. Petersburg. About the German edition of this book: «[…] Constantin Floros devotes himself initially to the biography and then to the compositional oeuvre, divided according to genre and supplemented by concrete illustrations, thus giving greater significance to the music.» (Forum Musikbibliothek 27, 2006) «[…] the music gets more weight of its own in the more detailed analyses – illustrated with revealing note citations – which yet always remain readily accessible.»
To grasp music in its depth dimension is an art that can be learned and perfected. Categories of formal analysis here play a subordinate role – at least as important it is to be consciously aware of timbres, dynamic processes, musical characters and expressions. Following general reflections about the art of listening, the volume in hand presents exemplary work analyses. The roster of composers introduced extends from Mozart to Bernstein, that of the genres discussed from the piano piece to the opera. A detailed register and a survey of the chief works referred to make this book an indispensable companion for both scholars and laymen. About the German edition of this book: «In Floros’ book all these details unite to form a magnificent mosaic. Individual works discussed meet us in an entirely new light, and we begin to decipher the language of music with a different set of tools.» (Helmut Peters)
With his extensive three-volume investigation, the author has newly drawn the image of Gustav Mahler for our time. Should Mahler’s symphonies really be categorized as «absolute music»? – Little-known manuscript sources contain significant hints to the contrary: programmatic titles and catchwords or phrases, mottos, literary allusions, associations, sighs, exclamations. Mahler fully understood his symphonies as «erlebte Musik», music of experience, as autobiography in notes, and as expressions of his «weltanschauung». All the symphonies, including the purely instrumental ones, can be traced back to programs that Mahler originally made public, but suppressed later on. A knowledge of the programmatic ideas provides access to a hitherto barely sensed interior metaphysical world that is of crucial importance for an adequate interpretation of the works. This first volume uncovers the complexity of relations between Mahler’s wide-ranging reading and education, his aesthetics and his symphonic creation. About the German edition of this book: «One of the most thoroughgoing and comprehensive investigations of Gustav Mahler’s work and world to date.» (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) «The way in which Mahler’s literary background, his education, and his aesthetic and philosophical maxims are presented here indeed opens up a new approach.» (Die Musikforschung)
Music is often defined as art for the ear, as the language of feeling, of the heart, as sound play, or as the science of composition. But music also conveys intellectual and emotional experiences, literary, religious, philosophical, social and political ideas. Countless composers encrypt contents in their music that can be deciphered by a variety of methods. This book is designed as an introduction to the basic questions of musical semantics and discusses Beethoven’s committed art, the core ideas of the «Ring of the Nibelung» and of the «Symphony of a Thousand», Wagner’s idea of a religion of art, the relation of music and poetry, the musico-literary conceptions of composers, the large field of program music and the history of the impact of Gustav Mahler.
In the late 19th century, Brahms and Bruckner were seen as opposites. This study explores whether that perception aligns with historical reality or if it exaggerates their differences. Both composers created original music, adhered to traditional forms, and rejected program music. The first part examines Brahms’ relationship with Bruckner through biographical, historical, artistic, and theoretical lenses. The second part focuses on Brahms’ early work, questioning whether he truly operated as an independent composer. The third part addresses a less-explored aspect of Bruckner research: his connection to program music. New insights emerge from a thorough analysis of biographical data alongside a detailed examination of musical elements, enhancing the understanding of 19th-century music. The study is informed by Floros’s extensive research on Mahler, revealing previously unnoticed clues regarding Brahms’s and Bruckner’s compositions. The findings highlight significant ideological and musical heritage differences between the two composers, suggesting that what was once considered ‘absolute’ music in Bruckner’s works may carry deeper semantic meanings when the composer intended.
While unappreciated and controversial during most of his life, Anton Bruckner is today regarded as the greatest symphonist between Beethoven and Gustav Mahler - in terms of originality, boldness and monumentality of his music. The image of Bruckner the man, however, is still extreme instance of the tenacious power of prejudice. No less a figure than Gustav Mahler coined the aperçu about Bruckner being «a simpleton - half genius, half imbecile». The author is out to correct that misperception. His thesis in this study is that contrary to what has hitherto been asserted, there is an intimate relation between Bruckner's sacred music and his symphonies from multiple perspectives: biographical data, sources and influences, the psychology of creation, musical structure, contemporary testimony and reception history. Additional chapters assess important Bruckner recordings and interpreters and the progressiveness of his music.
Translated by Neil K. Moran
The subject of this book is the semantics of symphonic music from Beethoven to Mahler. Of fundamental importance is the realization that this music is imbued with non-musical, literary, philosophical and religious ideas. It is also clear that not only Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner were crucial role models for Mahler, but also the musical dramatist Wagner and the programmatic symphony composers Berlioz and Liszt. At the same time a semantic musical analysis of their works reveals for the first time the actual inherent (poetic) quintessence of numerous orchestral works of the 19th Century.
This monograph is an authoritative study of the œuvre of one of the most important composers of our time. For the first time, Ligeti’s key works are presented in the context of their drafts and sketches. His personal and artistic development is set forth and illuminated, and his principal compositions are analyzed and reinterpreted, based on detailed studies of the scores and drafts, as well as on personal conversations with the composer. In addition, numerous questions concerning today’s composing are raised and discussed. Music does not have to be puristic: Ligeti’s spheres of interest are close to universal, embracing history, natural science, and visual arts, as well as music of diverse eras and ethnicities. This expanded world of the musical comprises not just tones and sounds, speech and music, the vocal and the instrumental: Ligeti conceives music as a cosmos of acoustic form.