Kiss to Music

Funny quotes from Herbert von Karajan

2013-07-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Herbert von Karajan (April 5, 1908 – July 16, 1989) was one of the most famous Austrian conductor.

Here are some quote from him:

"I can play with my seventy strings a pianissimo which is much, much more subtle than a chamber orchestra's."

"If you start with almost nothing, people concentrate much more on hearing you. Then when the outbreak comes, it makes a far greater impact."

"No music is vulgar, unless it is played in a way that makes it so."

"Sometimes, when I listen to some of my old recordings, I envy painters who can simply burn the pictures they don't like. I cannot."

Do you know Karajan was born at Salzburg same city as Mozart? Their house just opposite across the river! In front of Karajan's house has Karajan statue with baton action stand face to Mozart house.

Karajan's Birthpalce, Salzburg
Karajan went to Mozarteum Conservatory, Salzburg, to study music.
Find more about Karajan check here http://www.karajan.org

Mozart Geburtshaus is Mozart's birth place at Salzburg, Austria. Mozart was born here on January 27, 1756. His family lived here from 1747 to 1773. Today, this place is a museum where present some of Mozart's instrument such as violin and harpsichord. Mozart's house become one of the tourist destination of Salzburg city.

The address of this place is Getreidegasse 9 5020 Sakzburg.

Funny VDO : Mickey Mouse Symphony hour

2013-06-25T14:06:00.001-07:00

Funny Classic Mickey Mouse : Symphony Hour

Find more about "Mickey Mouse and friend" with classical music below

Funny Quotes from Jascha Heifetz

2013-06-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Jascha Heifetz, 2 February 1901- 10 December 1987, the greatest violinist ever. Here are some quotes from him.

"You may be ready for Beethoven,but Beethoven is not ready for you!"

" If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it."

"I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons: first, to discourage the composer from writing anymore, and second, to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven.

"There is no top. There are always further heights to reach."

Wanna know more about Heifetz? Check out this book. This is one of my favorite book all the time, same as Heifetz, number one violinist forever.

Heifetz As I Knew Him

Read book review click here

Check out Jascha Heifetz great record. These are my favorite!

Peter and the Wolf children's book collection

2013-05-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

A cute Russian story by Sergei Prokofiev, a great composer.

This story is created into many versions of children books. Click on the title to find more information about the book!

1. Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf: With a Fully-Orchestrated and Narrated CD

This version come along with a fully orchestrated and narrated CD. Recording by Cincinnati Pops under the direction of Erich Kunzel.
Illustrated by Peter Malone.
Narration by Peter A. Thomas
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (September 14, 2004)
ISBN-13: 978-0375824302

2.Peter and the Wolf

Illustrated by Chris Raschka

Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books (November 4, 2008)

ISBN-13: 978-0689856525

3.Peter and the Wolf: Easy Piano

The wonderful version! Full color along with easy arranged piano sheet music. Children will enjoy the story, pictures, and be able to make music by themselves.

Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes (May 1, 2001)

ISBN-10: 0851622690

ISBN-13: 978-0851622699

4.Peter and the Wolf

The classic version of Peter and the Wolf.

Illustrated by Clarles Mikolaycak

Translated by Maria Carlson

Narration by Peter Fernandez

Publisher: Live Oak Media; Pap/Com edition (October 30, 1987)

ISBN-10: 1595193391

ISBN-13: 978-1595193391

Funny VDO : Leopold Bunny's Opera

2012-02-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

Enjoy opera with Leopold Bugs Bunny!

Funny VDO : Rabbits of Seville

2012-01-17T00:35:00.000-08:00

Funny Bugs Bunny clip with the Barber of Seville by Rossini

Funny quotes about Opera(2)

2012-01-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

"In opera, there is always too much singing."
By Claude Debussy, French composer

"One can't judge Wagner's opera 'Lohengrin' after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend hearing it a second time."
By Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer

"I don't think an opera house is ever a place that can make you entirely happy."
By Bernard Haitink , Dutch conductor

"Even in today's opera world, the position of the black tenor is problematic."
By Bobby Short , American Cabaret singer and pianist

"A great opera house isn't run by a director, but by great administrator"
By Steven Berkoff, English actor

The story of Ignace Jan Paderewski

2012-01-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

One of the most consummate masters of the piano at the present time is Ignace Jan Paderewski. Those who were privileged to hear him during his first season in this country will never forget the experience. The Polish artist conquered the new world as he had conquered the old; his name became a household word, known from coast to coast; he traveled over our land, a Prince of Tones, everywhere welcomed and honored. Each succeeding visit deepened the admiration in which his wonderful art was held.

The question has often been raised as to the reason of Paderewski's remarkable hold on an audience; wherein lay his power over the musical and unmusical alike. Whenever he played there was always the same intense hush over the listeners, the same absorbed attention, the same spell. The superficial attributed these largely to his appearance and manner; the more thoughtful looked deeper. Here was a player who was a thoroughly trained master in technic and interpretation; one who knew his Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and Liszt. These things of themselves would not hold an audience spellbound, for there were other artists equally well equipped. In a final analysis it was doubtless Paderewski's wonderful piano tone, so full of variety and color, so vital with numberless gradations of light and shade, that charmed and enthralled his listeners. It mattered to no one—save the critics—that he frequently repeated the same works. What if we heard the Chromatic Fantaisie a score of times? In his hands It became a veritable Soliloquy on Life and Destiny, which each repetition invested with new meaning and beauty. What player has ever surpassed his poetic conception of Schumann's Papillons, or the Chopin Nocturnes, which he made veritable dream poems of love and ecstasy.

What listener has ever forgotten the tremendous power and titanic effect of the Liszt Rhapsodies, especially No. 2? When Paderewski first came to us, in the flush of his young manhood, he taught us what a noble instrument the piano really is in the hands of a consummate master. He showed us that he could make the piano speak with the delicacy and power of a Rubinstein, but with more technical correctness; he proved that he could pierce our very soul with the intensity of his emotion, the poignant, heart-searching quality of his tones, the poetry and beauty of his interpretation.

Paderewski is known as composer and pianist, only rarely does he find time to give instruction on his instrument. Mme. Antoinette Szumowska, the Polish pianist and lecturer was at one time termed his "only pupil." Mr. Sigismond Stojowski, the Polish composer, pianist and teacher has also studied with him. Both can testify as to his value as an instructor.

Mme. Szumowska says:

"Paderewski lays great stress on legato playing, and desires everything to be studied slowly, with deep touch and with full, clear tone. For developing strength he uses an exercise for which the hand is pressed against the keyboard while the wrist remains very low and motionless and each finger presses on a key, bringing, or drawing out as much tone as possible.

"Paderewski advises studying scales and arpeggios with accents, for instance, accenting every third note, thus enabling each finger in turn to make the accent impulse: this will secure evenness of touch. Double passages, such as double thirds and sixths, should be divided and each half practised separately, with legato touch. Octaves should be practised with loose wrists and staccato touch. As a preparatory study practise with thumb alone. The thumb must always be kept curved, with joints well rounded out; it should touch the keys with its tip, so as to keep it on a level with the other fingers. Paderewski is very particular about this point.

"It is difficult to speak of Paderewski's manner of teaching expression, for here the ideas differ with each composer and with every composition. As to tonal color, he requires all possible variety in tone production. He likes strong contrasts, which are brought out, not only by variety of touch but by skilful use of the pedals.

"My lessons with Paderewski were somewhat irregular. We worked together whenever he came to Paris. Sometimes I did not see him for several months, and then he would be in Paris for a number of weeks; at such seasons we worked together very often. Frequently these lessons, which were given in my cousin's house, began very late in the evening—around ten o'clock—and lasted till midnight, or even till one in the morning.

"Paderewski the teacher is as remarkable as Paderewski the pianist. He is very painstaking; his remarks are clear and incisive: he often illustrates by playing the passage in question, or the whole composition. He takes infinite trouble to work out each detail and bring it to perfection. He is very patient and sweet tempered, though he can occasionally be a little sarcastic. He often grows very enthusiastic over his teaching, and quite forgets the lapse of time. In general, however, he does not care to teach, and naturally has little time for it."

Sigsmund Stojowsk, Polish pianist and composer

(1870-1946)

Mr. Stojowski, when questioned in regard to his work with the Polish pianist, said:

"Paderewski is a very remarkable teacher. There are teachers who attempt to instruct pupils about what they do not understand, or cannot do themselves: there are others who are able to do the thing, but are not able to explain how they do it. Paderewski can both do it and explain how it is done. He knows perfectly what effects he wishes to produce, how they are to be produced, the causes which underlie and bring them about; he can explain and demonstrate these to the pupil with the greatest exactness and detail.

"As you justly remark the quality of tone and the variety of tonal gradations are special qualities of Paderewski's playing. These must be acquired by aid of the ear, which tests and judges each shade and quality of tone. He counsels the student to listen to each tone he produces, for quality and variety.

CLEARNESS A MUST PRINCIPLE

"The player, as he sits at the piano, his mind and heart filled with the beauty of the music his fingers are striving to produce, vainly imagines he is making the necessary effects. Paderewski will say to him: 'No doubt you feel the beauty of this composition, but I hear none of the effects you fancy you are making; you must deliver everything much more clearly: distinctness of utterance is of prime importance.'' Then he shows how clearness and distinctness may be acquired. The fingers must be rendered firm, with no giving in at the nail joint. A technical exercise which he gives, and which I also use in my teaching, trains the fingers in up and down movements, while the wrist is held very low and pressed against the keyboard. At first simple five-finger forms are used; when the hand has become accustomed to this tonic, some of the Czerny Op. 740 can be played, with the hand in this position. Great care should be taken when using this principle, or lameness will result. A low seat at the piano is a necessity for this practise; sitting low is an aid to weight playing: we all know how low Paderewski himself sits at the instrument.

"You ask what technical material is employed. Czerny, Op. 740; not necessarily the entire opus; three books are considered sufficient. Also Clementi's Gradus. Of course scales must be carefully studied, with various accents, rhythms and tonal dynamics; arpeggios also. Many arpeggio forms of value may be culled from compositions.

"There are, as we all know, certain fundamental principles that underlie all correct piano study, though various masters may employ different ways and means to exemplify these fundamentals. Paderewski studied with Leschetizky and inculcates the principles taught by that master, with this difference, that he adapts his instruction to the physique and mentality of the student; whereas the Vorbereiters of Leschetizky prepare all pupils along the same lines, making them go through a similar routine, which may not in every instance be necessary.

FINGERING

"One point Paderewski is very particular about, and that is fingering. He often carefully marks the fingering for a whole piece; once this is decided upon it must be kept to. He believes in employing a fingering which is most comfortable to the hand, as well as one which, in the long run, will render the passage most effective. He is most sensitive to the choice of fingering the player makes, and believes that each finger can produce a different quality of tone. Once, when I was playing a Nocturne, he called to me from the other end of the room: 'Why do you always play that note with the fourth finger? I can hear you do it; the effect is bad,' He has a keen power of observation; he notices little details which pass unheeded by most people; nothing escapes him. This power, directed to music, makes him the most careful and painstaking of teachers. At the same time, in the matter of fingering, he endeavors to choose the one which can be most easily accomplished by the player. The Von Bülow editions, while very erudite, are apt to be laborious and pedantic; they show the German tendency to over-elaboration, which, when carried too far becomes a positive fault.

CORRECT MOTION

"Another principle Paderewski considers very important is that of appropriate motion. He believes in the elimination of every unnecessary movement, yet he wishes the whole body free and supple. Motions should be as carefully studied as other technical points. It is true he often makes large movements of arm, but they are all thought out and have a dramatic significance. He may lift the finger off a vehement staccato note by quick up-arm motion, in a flash of vigorous enthusiasm; but the next instant his hand is in quiet position for the following phrase.

STUDYING EFFECTS

"The intent listening I spoke of just now must be of vital assistance to the player in his search for tonal variety and effect. Tone production naturally varies according to the space which is to be filled. Greater effort must be put forth in a large hall, to make the tone carry over the footlights, to render the touch clear, the accents decisive and contrasts pronounced. In order to become accustomed to these conditions, the studio piano can be kept closed, and touch must necessarily be made stronger to produce the desired power.

INTERPRETATION

"A great artist's performance of a noble work ought to sound like a spontaneous improvisation; the greater the artist the more completely will this result be attained. In order to arrive at this result, however, the composition must be dissected in minutest detail. Inspiration comes with the first conception of the interpretation of the piece. Afterward all details are painstakingly worked out, until the ideal blossoms into the perfectly executed performance. Paderewski endeavors uniformly to render a piece in the manner and spirit in which he has conceived it. He relates that after one of his recitals, a lady said to him:

"'Why, Mr. Paderewski, you did not play this piece the same as you did when I heard you before,'

"'I assure you I intended to,' was the reply.

"'Oh, it isn't necessary to play it always the same way; you are not a machine,' said the lady.

"This reply aroused his artist-nature.

"'It is just because I am an artist that I ought at all times to play in the same way. I have thought out the conception of that piece, and am in duty bound to express my ideal as nearly as possible each time I perform it.'

"Paderewski instructs, as he does everything else, with magnificent generosity. He takes no account of time. I would come to him for a stipulated half-hour, but the lesson would continue indefinitely, until we were both forced to stop from sheer exhaustion. I have studied with him at various times. One summer especially stands out in my memory, when I had a lesson almost every day."

Speaking of the rarely beautiful character of Paderewski's piano compositions, Mr. Stojowski said:

"I feel that the ignorance of this music among piano teachers and students is a crying shame. What modern piano sonata have we to-day, to compare with his? I know of none. And the songs—are they not wonderful! I love the man and his music so much that I am doing what lies in my power to make these compositions better known. There is need of pioneer work in this matter, and I am glad to do some of it."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Find more stories of great teachers and pianists from this book.

PIANO MASTERY by HARRIETTE BROWER

Purchase it!, just click on picture

Try more beautiful pieces from Paderewski

Etude In G-Flat Major, Op. 25: No. 9 "Butterfly's Wings"
The Maiden's Wish Op.74 No.1

Mazurka In A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4

19 Hungarian Rhapsodies, S244/R106: No. 10 in E major, "Preludio"

BACK

Funny VDO : Mickey Mouse Concert

2011-12-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

Mickey Mouse is solo piano from The Opry House (1929).

This episode was created in black and white film and released on March 28, 1929. The soundtrack of this film was a great combination and arrangement of classical music pieces.
Let's enjoy with beloved Mr. Mickey Mouse

This the list of classical music in these flim.

"Yankee Doodle"
"Carmen" by George Bizet
"Prelude in C#minor Op.3 No. 2" by Sergei Rachmaninoff
"Hungarian Rhapsody No.2" by Franze Liszt

Funny quotes by Rossini talking about Wagner

2011-12-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

Both Rossini and Wagner are a romantic period opera composer. May be they are competitor....
Here are some of Rossini quotes talking about Wagner.

"Mr. Wagner has beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour."

"One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time."

"Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour."

"Wagner is a composer who has beautiful moments but awful quarter hours."

Funny VDO : Soprano's surprise!

2011-12-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Please wait until 0.50......

Funny quotes from Igor Stravinsky, Russian Composer

2011-09-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer, pianist and conductor. Here are some quote from him.

"The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music; they should be taught to love it instead."

"I never understood the need for a 'live' audience. My music, because of its extreme quietude, would be happiest with a dead one."

"My music is best understood by children and animals."

"A good composer does not imitate; he steals."

"Conductors' careers are made for the most part with 'Romantic' music. 'Classic' music eliminates the conductor; we do not remember him in it. "

"Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end."

Funny quotes about classical music composer

2011-06-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

"The old idea of a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it is nonsense. Nighttime is for sleeping.”
By Benjamin Britten, British composer

"A good composer is slowly discovered and a bad composer is slowly found out."
By Ernest Newman

"A good composer does not imitate; he steals."
By Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
By John Cage

"It is not hard to compose, but it is wonderfully hard to let the superfluous notes fall under the table."
By Johannes Brahms

"A creative artist works on his next composition because he is not satisfied with his previous one.
By Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer

Funny VDO : Victor Borge as conductor

2011-06-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

Victor Borge as conductor.

Funny quotes about music instruments

2011-06-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

"Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune."
By Igor Stravinsky

"The piano is a monster that screams when you touch its teeth."
By Andre Segovia

“The sound of a harpsichord is like two skeletons copulating on a hot tin roof.”
By Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor

"Brass bands are very well in their place outdoors and several miles away"
By Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor

"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself. "
By J.S. Bach

Funny VDO : Mickey Mouse & Friends, The Band Concert (1935)

2011-06-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

Mickey Mouse & Friends - The Band Concert (1935)
While Mickey Mouse was conducting William Tell oventure,Donald duck, as ice-cream seller, try to interupted by playing flute,Turkey in the Straw.

Funny quotes from great conductors(2)

2011-06-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

"I don't think an opera house is ever a place that can make you entirely happy."
By Bernard Haitink , Dutch conductor

"Napolean is dead - but Beethoven lives."
By Bruno Walter, German conductor

"If I have an orgasm, its good music."
By Leonard Bernstein, American conductor

"God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way."
By Arturo Toscanini, American conductor

"I don't want to repeat this a hundred times. When you see crecendo it means p."
By Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor

"The notes are right, but if I listened they would be wrong."
By Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor

Funny VDO : Musical Conductor comedy sketch

2011-06-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

A hilarious comedy sketch from BBC comedy showcase 'Comedy Shuffle'.

Funny VDO : Charlie Chaplin

2011-06-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Charlie Chaplin's shave scene with Brahms's Hungarian dance No.5 from "The Great Dictator"

Funny quotes about Johannes Brahms

2011-06-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

"I have played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard!"
By Peter Tchaikovsky, Russian composer

"Brahms is just like Tennyson, an extraordinary musician, with the brains of a third rate village policeman."
By George Bernard Shaw, playwright

"There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem."
By George Bernard Shaw, playwright

"I once sent him a song and asked him to mark a cross wherever he thought it was faulty. Brahms returned it untouched, saying "I don't want to make a cemetery of your compositions."
By Hugo Wolf, Austrain composer

“Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.”
By Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer

Funny quotes about Wagner

2011-05-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

“For me Wagner is impossible... he talks without ever stopping. One can't just talk all the time.”
By Robert Schumann, German composer

“Mr. Wagner has beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour.”
By Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer

"One can't judge Wagner's opera 'Lohengrin' after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend hearing it a second time."
By Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer

"I love Wagner, but the music I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws."
By Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, French poet

"I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland."
By Woody Allen, American comedian

“I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds.”
By Mark Twain, American author

“Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour.”
By Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer

"Wagner, thank the fates, is no hypocrite. He says out what he means, and he usually means something nasty."
By James Huneker, American music writer and critic

Funny VDO : Victor Borge's Chopin

2011-05-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Victor Borge with Chopin's waltz, op. 64

Funny quotes from classical music composer

2011-05-16T04:20:00.000-07:00

“There are still so many beautiful things to be said in C major.”
By Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer

"I was fifteen years old, and I hardly knew how to play a simple Bach prelude on the piano when I began to compose music, and at the most advanced level. I had never studied such things as harmony."
By Gyorgy Legeti , Hungarian composer

"A creative artist works on his next composition because he was not satisfied with his previous one."
By Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer

"If a young man at the age of twenty-three can write a symphony like that, in five years he will be ready to commit murder."
By Walter Damrosh,German composer and conductor, Talked about Aaron Copland, American composer

"Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been put up to a critic."
By Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer

Funny VDO : hilarious parody of Carmen

2011-05-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Funny Carman

Funny quotes from violinist and cellist(2)

2011-05-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

"The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency - half tiger, half poet."
By Yehudi Menuhin, Russian Violinist

"Child prodigy is a curse because you've got all those terrible possibilities."
By Itzhak Perlman, Israeli Violinist

"One of the most important elements in teaching, conducting, and performing, all three, is listening."
By Itzhak Perlman, Israeli Violinist

“The art of interpretation is not to play what is written.”
By Pablo Casals, Spanist Cellist

“The heart of the melody can never be put down on paper.”
By Pablo Casals, Spanist Cellist