MUSIC OF NOTE ♫
ELIZABETH HANDLEY’S
HISTORY AND APPRECIATION OF MUSIC LECTURES, COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
II SINGLE LECTURES
A. Famous Composer Lectures
(All 1- or 2-hours, with musical illustrations and PowerPoint slide presentations)
Delivering a lecture on Franz Liszt at the Hungarian Embassy, Stockholm
1. Chopin – Poet of the Piano
This lecture explores the music and short, turbulent life of one of the most popular composer-pianists in Western musical history. His life was fraught with illness, and personal and political turmoil – the latter precipitating his heart-breaking departure from his native Poland. This homesickness became the very wellspring of his inspiration.
Illustrated with some of the best-loved music by this quintessential Romantic, we also witness his subsequent success in Paris, and the impact of his mistress – writer-activist “George Sand”. We discover how Chopin revolutionised piano technique, his influence as a teacher on succeeding generations of pianists, and his contribution to the repertoire of the Queen of musical instruments – the pianoforte.
2. Franz Liszt – Titan of the Keyboard
In this lecture we explore the work of an astonishingly gifted musician, as both composer and pianist. We learn about the multifaceted life of a Hungarian virtuoso who was also a philanthropist, author, teacher and conductor, and marvel at his astounding command of the keyboard. Included are some aspects of his notoriously colourful romantic life.Franz
Liszt was extremely prolific, and left behind a wealth of brilliant compositions in every genre of his time, as well as new ones that he invented, such as the “symphonic poem”. He was progressive and audacious in his work, exerting a powerful influence on the next generation of pianists and composers. His adventurous approach to harmony and orchestration anticipated trends and styles in the ensuing “contemporary” period of the early 20th century.
3. Verdi – Magnifica Opera!
This lecture explores the life and work of one of the most significant composers in the history of Western musical stage drama. We trace Verdi’s trajectory, from relatively humble beginnings and early failures, following in the footsteps of the early Italian Romantics, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, up until his dominant position on the international stage.
We witness the upsurge of Nationalism in Europe in the wake of the Napoleonic Era, and Verdi’s political involvement in the Risorgimento. We hear of its eventual success in achieving the unification of Italy, hitherto a patchwork of independent, competitive states – all an excellent example of the powerful combination of music and politics.
The lecture is richly illustrated with musical examples from Verdi’s all-time tragic favourites, Aida, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Otello, the comedies of his later years, including Falstaff, the incomparable Requiem, and many other delightful works.
4. Jean Sibelius – Finnish Nationalist
Sibelius Monument, Helsinki, Finland
This lecture celebrates the life and work of the composer who, during the period of Russian domination, put Finnish music on the European map, and his important role in the formation of Finnish national identity.
While exploring Nationalism in post-Napoleonic Europe, we examine how many areas which had previously been under the political domination of foreign powers such as the Habsburgs, or under the cultural domination of the predominating German, French and Italian schools, began to express their independence and individuality through the arts. Utilizing the vivid character of folk material, Sibelius, like many composers in previously (or currently) dominated states, used music as a particularly subtle and effective way in which to express their nationalist sentiments.
We hear excerpts from some of his seven mighty symphonies, and experience the considerable influence that Sibelius exerted on symphonic composers and musical life, especially in the English-speaking and Nordic countries, during the late Romantic and early modern periods.
5. The Triumph of Light – Debussy and Impressionism
This lecture celebrates the unique innovations that Debussy introduced into music. We examine the meaning and origins of “Impressionism”, and with the use of many visual illustrations, see how the Impressionist painters revolutionised art, and how their influence extended beyond the canvas to poetry and music.
We explore the manner in which Impressionism in music found its most complete expression in Debussy’s music, which continued to influence composers well into the 20th Century.
While listening to excerpts from his works, we hear Debussy’s innovations in form, rhythm, and especially timbre, and his major role in the development of many of the idioms – and “isms” – of contemporary music in the ensuing modern oeuvre.
Apart from activities in France, we also experience the work of Impressionist composers outside France – in Italy and England: Respighi, Delius, Finzi and Butterworth.
6. Lenny Bernstein – Conductor, Composer, Pianist
We all know Leonard – “Lenny” – Bernstein as the composer of much popular and captivating music – as we remember his association with the New York Phil. But his was a multi-faceted talent. In this centenary lecture we discover that he was also an author, lecturer, teacher and accomplished pianist, and how his versatility as a composer encompassed many different styles: symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, opera, film and theatre music, choral works – including a Mass, chamber music and piano pieces. He was also the first conductor to give a series of television lectures about classical music, beginning in 1954 and continuing until his death in 1990.
His private life was turbulent, torn between homo- and heterosexuality, as was his choice of career commitment – between conducting and composing. In short, there is much more to Leonard Bernstein than West Side Story!
7. Leopold Mozart – Father of a Prodigy
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (1719 – 1787) is best known as the father of the phenomenal child prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus. But would we even have heard of him had he not produced this Wunderkind? Perhaps. He was a highly esteemed composer, teacher, and violinist in his own right, and enjoyed a reputation as a well-educated man of intellect and discernment during his lifetime. His violin Treatise won him considerable respect in teaching circles as a young adult, and continues to serve as a scholarly source regarding 18th C performance practise today. But what about his own compositions?
In this lecture we find out more about this rather austere-looking figure, infamous for pushing his gifted children forward in the illustrious courts of Europe, using them as objects of display – and a source of income – often at the expense of their health – and certainly that of their childhood. We also know from copious surviving letters that he advised, cajoled and persevered endlessly to procure for his wayward son a good position in Europe, unfortunately to no avail. We explore his personality, his relationship with his children, and his remarkable career choices once he discovered their extraordinary talent.
8. Clara Schumann – Pianist, Pioneer and Composer
In this lecture we explore the relatively unknown work of women composers in general, and of one remarkable woman in particular, who was born 200 years ago in 1819 (the same year as Queen Victoria.) We hear the fascinating story of her unusually turbulent and interesting life, and about her composition – for which she generally had insufficient time.
Clara was married to the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann, and was a distinguished pianist and composer in her own right. During a career of just over 60 years, she is significant for having initiated many new practices in piano performance, and for exerting great influence on succeeding generations of concert pianists.
In an age when women’s accomplishments were intended to enhance their marriage prospects, and certainly not to forge a career, Clara ignored the conventions of the day to pursue a brilliant performing career all over Europe and in Russia.
Apart from “marketing” her brilliant but mentally unstable husband’s works, Clara is significant for her ability to branch away from “cameo” chamber pieces for the piano and songs, and for composing larger works, such as her magnificent Piano Concerto and Piano Trio.
9. Beethoven – A Colossus Astride Two Centuries
In this lecture we explore the life, times and personality of one of the greatest minds the Western world has ever produced. Elizabeth also highlights Beethoven’s “musical fingerprints” – those musical characteristics that make his music so uniquely his, and so instantly recognisable.
Included are quotes from his numerous letters, which were preserved by significant friends who so generously sponsored his art, and who supported him throughout his tragic confrontation with increasing deafness and ill health.
The incredible resilience and optimism of this brilliant musician led him to triumph over adversity, and bring into the world a wealth of magnificent music.
OR
In this lecture we explore the life, exuberant personality, and glorious music of one of the greatest minds the Western world has ever produced.
Included is comprehensive background on the 18th and 19th century worlds in which he lived and worked. This serves to illustrate the extent of his path-breaking genius, which enabled him to drive music from the relatively constrained milieu of the Classical Era – the Age of Enlightenment – into the turbulent tides of Romanticism.
Elizabeth also explores Beethoven’s “musical fingerprints” – the musical characteristics that make his music so uniquely his, and so instantly recognisable.
Included are several quotes from his numerous letters, which were preserved by significant friends who so generously sponsored his art, and who supported him throughout his tragic confrontation with increasing deafness and ill health.
Richly illustrated with pictures and musical illustrations, Elizabeth shares with us Beethoven’s incredible resilience and optimism, which enabled him to triumph over adversity, and bring into the world a wealth of magnificent music.
OR
A Child of Revolution – Introducing Beethoven
Ludwig von Beethoven, traditionally dubbed the “bridge” between the Classical and Romantic Eras, was the product of a revolutionary age. This lecture provides an introduction to one of the most disruptive forces in the history of Western music. The historical background to the18th and 19th centuries is covered, as well as an exploration of Beethoven’s personality, and his “musical fingerprints” – the unique and distinctive characteristics that make his music undeniably his alone.
Tragically hampered by gradually increasing deafness, his music nonetheless transmits a message of remarkable optimism, and universality: he wrote consciously, and deliberately for posterity – us.
10. Who was the Immortal Beloved? Beethoven’s secret amour
Beethoven never married, but he did have a number of famous loves – his muses – to some of whom he dedicated the beautiful music they inspired. Several were his piano pupils – beautiful aristocratic women – but for him… unattainable. When he died, a love letter was found at his bedside, addressed to an unknown woman – the famous Immortal Beloved. Did she ever receive this letter, or return it, possibly unopened? 
In this presentation, illustrated with PowerPoint slides and musical illustrations, we try to solve this mystery, and determine who the mysterious lady might have been.
11. Precocious Wunderkind – Introducing Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was no innovator, but with his exceptional gifts he brought the existing “Classical” forms of his time to an extraordinary peak of beauty and perfection. In this lecture the background to this exceptional genius is explored. We discover the historical background to the 18th century in Europe, activities in the music and other creative fields of his era – the Rococo – and the exact nature and aesthetic of “Classical” music – his oeuvre. It is the Age of Enlightenment, or of Reason, and the writings of the famous philosophers of the time exerted considerable influence on all the arts.
Included is an exploration of Mozart’s quirky mercurial personality, and distinctive and instantly recognisable “musical fingerprints” – the characteristics that make his music uniquely “Mozartian”.
12. Mozart – The Last Ten Years
In this lecture we focus on the last ten years of this mercurial genius: from the moment he was expelled from the Archbishop’s palace in Salzburg, and his relocation to Vienna aged 25, until his death in the “musical capital of Europe” just short of his 36th birthday.
At a time when artists still worked under the onerous patronage system, Mozart tried to go it alone in Vienna as a freelance concert pianist and composer. At first he was very successful, but his innovations began to prove ahead of his time. We shall also explore why this brilliant and apparently likeable musician did not experience greater fame and fortune during his adult career, why he never succeeded in his endless quest for a permanent lucrative position at one of the courts in Europe, why he was often poor, and whether the intrigues against him were real or imagined.
We investigate the myths surrounded his premature death – including the alleged “poisoning conspiracy theory” involving Salieri, and the legendary burial in an “unmarked pauper’s grave”.
The wunderkind celebrated throughout Europe, showered with gifts and praised by Kings, and supported by his domineering father, is dead. No monument stands on the place of Mozart’s burial, but we have the greatest monument of all: over 600 magnificent works, and wonderfully idiosyncratic letters, which allow us a glimpse into his method of work, his personality, and the 18th century world in which he lived.
13. A Russian Icon – Introducing Tchaikovsky
This lecture introduces us to Tchaikovsky by way of an exploration of the Western background to his work and his Russian heritage. We learn about his complex personality, fraught with the angst and suicidal conflicts of homosexuality, and his unique and instantly recognisable musical “fingerprints”.
We discover in Tchaikovsky’s music the continual struggle between despair and hope, between the passionate chaos of his emotional intensity, and the carefully structured ordering of its articulation through music. But apart from his preoccupation with Fate, and the Slavic capacity for gloom, we enjoy his rich and colourful orchestration, his glorious melodies, and his gift for addressing us each individually – the key to his universal appeal.
14. The JS Bach Journey
In this lecture we learn about a towering figure of the Baroque Era, a brilliant intellectual who contributed so much to Western art music through his skill in counterpoint, and harmonic and motivic organisation, and through his adaptation of styles from abroad – specifically France and Italy.
Based on my tour of Bach’s eastern Germany with a bespoke tour group, we begin as Bach did, in the small town on Thuringia, and end, as he did, in the city of Leipzig. Included is his ancestry, and placing him into historical context with an exploration of the aesthetic of the Baroque Era. We salute his significance in his development of an eclectic, energetic musical style in which foreign influences were combined with the pre-existing German musical language of his heritage.
15. Felix & Fanny – Mendelssohn Sibling Rivalry
Felix Mendelssohn is one of the most popular composers of the 19th century Romantic Era. His cheerful symphonies and piano concertos, his sublime Violin Concerto – one of the most significant in the repertoire – and choral works, are regular features in the concert hall. These and his numerous elegant and charming chamber works and piano pieces are familiar to all music-lovers the world over.
But little is known about his gifted elder sister Fanny, who followed the traditional conventions of marriage and child-bearing, and whose contribution to the Classical music lexicon has been sadly neglected. The reservations of her family, and social conventions of the time concerning the roles of women, led to the overshadowing and even suppression of her art. Some of her music was published under her brother’s name, to ensure its publication, and to “protect her reputation”. Fortunately, recent research has brought to light more information about her life and work, and her success in publishing some of her music in spite of the ambivalence of her family towards her musical aspirations.
In this course the relationship between these gifted siblings is explored, their lives and their music, with particular focus on their roles and reception in the society of the time. With quotes from their letters, and ample musical and visual illustrations, it will be demonstrated that there is much more to the Mendelssohns than meets the eye – or ear.
16. Saint -Saëns – More than a Carnival of Animals
The name Saint-Saëns generally brings to mind the well-known orchestral work for children, The Carnival of the Animals, with which we are all so familiar. But there is much more to the innovative French composer than this popular piece.
This lecture explores Camille Saint-Saëns’s music in the context of 19th century Romanticism and also on the cusp of new trends in the early 20th century. While following his life story, which was beset with personal tragedy, it will be seen how he came to be regarded as the doyen of French Classical music.
Born in Paris in 1835, this child prodigy soon proved to be a brilliant pianist, and a composer with a vividly fertile imagination and supreme mastery of orchestration. While listening to ample musical illustrations, it will be seen how although a keen modernist, Saint-Saëns always remained indebted to the great composers of the past, adhering to Classical models and upholding a conservative ideal of polished craftsmanship and formal structure. His rich and varied repertoire, including opera, and orchestral, chamber and solo music, is still often performed – evidence of the continuing popularity of his music to this today.
17. Songs of Norway – The music of Edvard Grieg
In this lecture we enjoy the romantic and picturesque music of this much-loved composer – principal representative of 19th century nationalism in Norway. Resonant with the magnificent landscapes and Norwegian folklore, we hear how his music, richly infused with the rhythms and melodies of his homeland, brought Norway’s customs and traditions to the world.
