Johannes Brahms

Voted in 2006 by a group of ten European media outlets as number three on a list of “top ten European Orchestras,” after the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concert , the Berlin Philharmonic (in German: Die Berliner Philharmoniker”) has held a prominent place in the German capital’s musical and cultural life. The Berlin Philharmonic’s primary concert venue is the Philharmonie, located in the Kulturforum area of the city. Simon Rattle has been the Berlin Philharmonic’s principal conductor since 2002. Subsidized by the city of Berlin in partnership with the Deutsche Bank, the Berlin Philharmonic also supports several chamber music ensembles.

Founded by 54 musicians in the spring of 1882 under the name “Frühere Bilsesche Kapelle” (literal translation: “Former Bilse’s Band”) in 1882, the players formed a breakaway group after conductor Benjamin Bilse announced plans to take the band on a fourth class train to Warsaw for a concert. Under the financial management of Hermann Wolff in 1887, the orchestra was reorganized and given its current name. Ludwig Brenner became the Berlin Philharmonic’s first conductor; in 1887 Hans von Bülow, one of the most respected conductors in the world, joined, thereby establishing the orchestra’s reputation. The Berliners subsequently engaged a string of other esteemed composers/conductors such as Hans Richter, Felix von Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms, and Edvard Grieg.

In 1985, Arthur Nikisch became chief conductor, then was succeeded by Wilhelm
Fürtwängler. After Fürtwängler fled to Switzerland in 1945, Leo Borchard became chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic; however, this arrangement lasted only a few months when Borchard was accidentally shot and killed by American forces occupying Berlin. Sergiu Celibidache then took up the baton as chief conductor from 1945 to 1952.

Fürtwängler returned in the same year and conducted the orchestra until his death in 1954.

With the ascendance to the conductor’s podium of the glamorous, dynamic and controversial (due to allegations surrounding his possible membership in the Nazi party) Herbert von Karajan in 1955, the Berlin Philharmonic entered a period of tremendous activity, marked by a vast number of recordings and world tours. Herbert von Karajan resigned in April 1989, only months before his death.

After von Karajan, Claudio Abbado became principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, expanding the orchestra’s repertoire beyond the classical and romantic warhorses and moving it into the works of the modern 20th century. Abbado stepped down in 2002.

During the post-unification period, the Berlin Philharmonic had to contend with financial problems resulting from budgetary stress in the city of Berlin.

Simon Rattle was elected as chief conductor in 1999 by the Berlin Philharmonic’s musicians. Rattle made it a condition of his contract that the Berlin Philharmonic become a self-governing public foundation, with the power to make its own artistic and
financial decisions. This in turn involved a change in the state law, approved in 2001, thereby allowing Mr. Rattle to join the organization in 2002. Initially, Mr. Rattle’s contract with the orchestra was through 2012; however, in 2008 the Berlin Philharmonic voted in favor of retaining him as their chief conductor.

For more information on Berlin, Germany visit http://www.berlinmicroblog.com and http://www.germanymicroblog.com.

Originally published here.

Music in XIX century (1825-1900)

Music in this century belonged to the romantic era music. The cultivation of music in this period was marked by the expression, timbre, and melodies that departed from the works of Beethoven. Composers of this time worked on the composition based on personal experience and sense of nationalism. Poetry could also be one of “raw materials” of the composition making.

In this period, the composer were said to reach a level of virtuoso, meaning a level that indicated that a composer was very skilled in playing musical instruments. Composer has already considered the aspects of the sound and the effects that were generated by the techniques of playing instrument.

In this time, the revolutionary changes happened. The changes were made by Richard Wagner. He combined the elements of music, poetry, and scenarios by using leitmotif technique, namely the technique of using motif or musical theme on both character and part of opera story.

The instruments used in this period were much more diverse. Melody grew longer, more dramatic and emotional. Tempo was also more extreme in which mostly used tempo rubato (freedom).

The famous composers in this time were Franz Schubert, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Johannes Brahms, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss.

Music in XX century (1900s)

Around 1900, there was a reaction against romantic music. This reaction was expressed in the group of impressionism that was pioneered by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Debussy was “in rebellion” with the romantic music in German by using the melody and harmony which had a new quality system based on whole-tone scales (the interval scale was 1).

Music of this century was called impressionist era. There was atonal expressionism music, namely music without the basic tone but full of expression. The melody movement flew with strange and expressive rhythmic. Many people consider it like notes without meaning.

In this time, all forms and types of noise were allowed. Rhythmic could be very complex and sounded strange but expressive. In addition, composition could vary widely because it was the result of improvisation and change.

The composers of this era were Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Scott Joplin, and Charles Ives.

Contemporary Music

The birth of record and radio media created the new markets for classical music and romantic music. Music of this period was known as the music of contemporary era. The typical music of this era was similar to the impressionist era. Its composers were Bela Bartok, Zoltán Kodály, Olivier Messiaen, Luigi Dallapicolla, and Luciano Berio.

Originally published here.

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Ringtone have changed the soundscape of modern communication. Presently many ringtones such as sing tones, voice tones, caller tunes, monophonic tones, polyphonic tones, true tones etc are available freely and on payment basis on the internet.

Cellular phones are available with preinstalled tones. If the user is not satisfied with them he can download ringtones from the internet or from other phones. The usual formats for ringtones are either MP3 or MIDI. Vibration ringtones are used in noisy places, while traveling, by hearing impaired, places where silence is mandatory like movie theaters libraries, hospitals, meetings etc. With vibra ringtones the cell phone vibrates to get the attention of the user. Online sites even help one to create your own free ringtone.

Rintone can be set according to ones mood or choice. One can find thousand of rightone online from classic mood to club mood. Now, however, classical tunes are being turned into ring tones with an eye on both increasing the choices available and turning senior cell phone users into regular down loaders.

Boosey & Hawkes, a British publisher of classical music for example, Mozart and Prokofieff, and other Internet ringtone companies have been quick to add classical tunes to their libraries. Many cell phone companies offers classical music by more than 40 different composers and performers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Giuseppe Verdi, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Giacomo Puccini, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, George Gershwin, Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Claude Debussy and Antonio Vivaldi
Ringtones help to make your cell phone appear more lively, unique and attractive.

That’s why many of us always want to have some different and unique ringtone and thus reflect on the personality of the user. That’s why many of us always keep on downloading new ringtones.

Originally published here.

Anna Josephs is a freelance editor having experience of many years in writing articles and news releases on various topics related to health, automobile and social issues. Currently, she is working on http://www.benzer3.com. To get more details on Ringtone, please visit http://entertainment.benzer3.com/free-ringtone.html . Please feel free to write feedback on this article. Anna Josephs can be contacted at annajosephs@gmail.com