Summary of Clemency Burton-Hill 's Year of Wonder

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is going to feature a lot over the next twelve months. He is the most important figure in classical music, and his influence is felt in music today as it ever was.

#2 The two-minute piece called Polonaise Brillante is a study written by Frédéric Chopin for his piano students. It is a melodic and harmonic exploration of the possibilities of the piano, and it can be a bit anticlimactic. But it demonstrates all the promise of a new year.

#3 Women have been multitasking since the medieval era. One of the first identifiable composers in Western music, Hildegard of Bingen was a nun, a writer, a scientist, a philosopher, a prophet, and a Christian visionary.

#4 The Cavatina, a piece by Beethoven, is the final piece on the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph that was sent into outer space in 1977 to provide a representative range of the sounds, languages, and music of planet Earth in case of any meaningful future encounter with extra-terrestrial life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669383864

IRB Media

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Insights on Clemency Burton-Hill's Year of Wonder

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is going to feature a lot over the next twelve months. He is the most important figure in classical music, and his influence is felt in music today as it ever was.

#2

The two-minute piece called Polonaise Brillante is a study written by Frédéric Chopin for his piano students. It is a melodic and harmonic exploration of the possibilities of the piano, and it can be a bit anticlimactic. But it demonstrates all the promise of a new year.

#3

Women have been multitasking since the medieval era. One of the first identifiable composers in Western music, Hildegard of Bingen was a nun, a writer, a scientist, a philosopher, a prophet, and a Christian visionary.

#4

The Cavatina, a piece by Beethoven, is the final piece on the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph that was sent into outer space in 1977 to provide a representative range of the sounds, languages, and music of planet Earth in case of any meaningful future encounter with extra-terrestrial life.

#5

Antonio Lotti, who was born on this day, was a contemporary of J. S. Bach. His music sounds as though he was writing for a bygone age, and it feels closer in spirit to the Renaissance.

#6

The Bruch violin concerto is a piece that endures across the generations and is still loved by audiences and performers alike. It is a piece that was extremely popular when it was first written, but its popularity has overshadowed everything else he wrote.

#7

The Concerto Grosso, a musical form that brought together a small ensemble of instrumentalists to play in equal roles, was created by the Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli. His fame rests on his contribution to this form, which was immensely popular in the Baroque era.

#8

The power of music was demonstrated in a concentration camp in 1942, when a group of defiant Jewish prisoners, led by the former conductor and composer Rafael Schächter, decided to perform Verdi’s Requiem in an act of spiritual resistance.

#9

The idea that classical music is something other than the music people like is completely false. It all comes from the same source. And when I hear a piece like this one, I can hear how much of what will be heard in later centuries in all sorts of music.

#10

Doruflé, who was born on this day, was a twentieth-century life that was characterized by crystalline clarity. He wrote music that is highly distinctive. His work has a crystalline clarity, and he wrote very little.

#11

The Octet for Strings was written by Felix Mendelssohn as a birthday present for his friend and violin teacher, Edward Rietz. It was an exuberant piece of chamber music, and it was difficult to write. Mendelssohn always loved it, and you can hear his enjoyment in every note.

#12

Clara Schumann, a pianist and composer, was also a mother of eight. She was married to Robert, who wrote music, and she was a teacher and muse to many composers. She composed some wonderful music, which included this tender and ardent romance.

#13

The solo clarinet in Tosca is a mournful refrain that I’m gone. Puccini, the opera’s composer, was a hit factory who wrote what we might think of as the pop songs of his day. His influence went far beyond the operatic world.

#14

The French composer Olivier Messiaen was 31 when he wrote this. It is an unusual combination of instruments, and not without its challenges when it comes to sound balance. But those were the instruments at his disposal in the camp.

#15

The oboe is a special instrument in the orchestra that is capable of producing a pure, sweet sound. It is descended from the sorts of pipes that