• ABOUT
    • Our Mission and Vision
    • Our Board
    • Our Partners
    • Our Staff
    • In the News
    • Blog
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Visit Us
    • Contact Us
  • EVENTS
  • ART
    • Gallery >
      • Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
      • Past Exhibitions
    • BASE - Brushwood Art Supply Exchange
    • Classes >
      • Botanical Art Academy
      • Create and Sip Classes
    • Calls for Art
  • MUSIC
  • WELLNESS
    • 2022 Nature Explorer Backpack Project
    • Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator
    • At Ease: Nature and Art for Veterans
    • It's A W.I.N. - Programming for Community
    • Senior Wellness
  • RENTALS
  • SUPPORT
    • Donate
    • Become a Partner
    • Volunteer & Job Opportunities
    • Our Sponsors
    • Shopping Cart
Brushwood Center
  • ABOUT
    • Our Mission and Vision
    • Our Board
    • Our Partners
    • Our Staff
    • In the News
    • Blog
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Visit Us
    • Contact Us
  • EVENTS
  • ART
    • Gallery >
      • Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
      • Past Exhibitions
    • BASE - Brushwood Art Supply Exchange
    • Classes >
      • Botanical Art Academy
      • Create and Sip Classes
    • Calls for Art
  • MUSIC
  • WELLNESS
    • 2022 Nature Explorer Backpack Project
    • Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator
    • At Ease: Nature and Art for Veterans
    • It's A W.I.N. - Programming for Community
    • Senior Wellness
  • RENTALS
  • SUPPORT
    • Donate
    • Become a Partner
    • Volunteer & Job Opportunities
    • Our Sponsors
    • Shopping Cart

Guest Post:  Nature in the Classics

3/7/2012

0 Comments

 
After his wonderful presentation at our most recent Nature in the Classics concert with the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, we asked Jim Setapan if he would share a few more words about the relationship between nature and the great classical canon.  Jim is Director of the Academy and Conductor-in-Residence at the Music Institute of Chicago.  Don't forget, our last Nature in the Classics concert is coming up on Sunday, March 18!  For more information, please see our Events listing. 

It is clear that love of nature was of paramount interest to many of the great composers. A brief list of some of those for whom a daily communication with nature was a necessity would include Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Elgar, Richard Strauss, Sibelius, and Mahler.

The list of works inspired by nature shows that many, many composers drew their inspiration from all matters outdoors.  A short group would include:
Vivaldi - The Four Seasons
Respighi - The Birds
Messiaen - many pieces inspired by bird calls
Prokofiev - A Summer Day
Joan Tower - Sequoia
Ferde Grofe - Grand Canyon Suite
Samuel Joners - Palo Duro Canyon Symphony
Frederick Delius - On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia
Many German Lieder (songs) speak of the beauty of nature
Beethoven - Symphony #6 (Pastorale)

A list of musical pieces inspired specifically by water would include:
Debussy - La Mer (The Sea)
Johann Strauss jr. - Thunder and Lightning Polka
Benjamin Britten - Four Sea Interludes from the Opera "Peter Grimes"
Wagner - Flying Dutchman Overture
Smetana - The Moldau (a river running through Prague)
Handel - The Water Music
Schumann - Symphony #3 (Rheinish)
The inspiration continues today; the Chicago Symphony's 2012-13 season includes a section called Rivers, with music based on this feature of nature.
Nature informs not only the content of classical compositions, but their form as well.  Take for example the Golden Section - a sense of perfect proportion ( a division of a length so that the ration of the smaller part to the larger is the same as that of the larger part to the whole; approximately 0.618) which occurs widely in nature, and also in architecture, the visual arts...and music. Some composers used this perfect sense of proportion of form, pitch, rhythm, and tempo instinctively - Bach, Mozart, Brahms; and others, such as Bela Bartok, used it consciously.
A similar relationship has often been at work in the creation of a musical motive, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: its development and growth throughout a piece of music parallels nature's life cycle.
What a wonderful gift nature has given us musicians!
Jim Setapen
Director of the Academy
Conductor-in-Residence
Music Institute of Chicago
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe

    Author

    This blog is written by the staff and partners of Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods

    Archives

    February 2022
    April 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    November 2018
    April 2018
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
21850 N. Riverwoods Rd.
​Riverwoods, IL 60015

224.633.2424 info@brushwoodcenter.org
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods is committed to enabling the participation and enjoyment of our programming and events for all visitors. At Brushwood Center, you will have open access to accessible parking and entrance to the house, a gender neutral bathroom, and changing tables.
If you require certain accommodations in order to observe or attend our events, or have questions regarding accessibility of our facilities, please contact our Manager of Public Programs and Communications, Parker Nelson, at pnelson@brushwoodcenter.org or at (224) 633-2424 ext. 1.
Programming and events at Brushwood Center is available to everyone, including but not limited to age, disability, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation.​
​
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
​OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Mondays & Wednesdays: 10am - 3pm
Sundays: 1pm - 3pm
and by appointment 
  • ABOUT
    • Our Mission and Vision
    • Our Board
    • Our Partners
    • Our Staff
    • In the News
    • Blog
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Visit Us
    • Contact Us
  • EVENTS
  • ART
    • Gallery >
      • Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
      • Past Exhibitions
    • BASE - Brushwood Art Supply Exchange
    • Classes >
      • Botanical Art Academy
      • Create and Sip Classes
    • Calls for Art
  • MUSIC
  • WELLNESS
    • 2022 Nature Explorer Backpack Project
    • Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator
    • At Ease: Nature and Art for Veterans
    • It's A W.I.N. - Programming for Community
    • Senior Wellness
  • RENTALS
  • SUPPORT
    • Donate
    • Become a Partner
    • Volunteer & Job Opportunities
    • Our Sponsors
    • Shopping Cart