ipl-logo

Analyzing Rachmaninoff's Song 'All By Myself'

722 Words3 Pages

Courtney Carrico and Melody Bahmanzad
Appreciation of Music
Doctor Sheldon
1 October 2014
Music 100 - Essay No. 2 The song originally discusses in our first essay was “All by Myself,” initially written by Eric Carmen, covered by Celine Dion. In further research, we have discovered that Carmen's song was based on Russian pianist and songwriter Sergei Vassilievich Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Sergei Rachmaninoff was born on April 1st, 1873 and died on March 28th, 1943. Rachmaninoff was born in the Romanticist Era, therefore his pieces of music were written with the traits of that era. As a boy, he grew up wealthy due to his aristocratic parents. His parents hired Anna Ornatskaya to teach young Rachmaninoff piano. Ornatskaya educated …show more content…

Eventually Sergei Rachmaninoff decided to become a composer and began creating many compositions. Thus, his Piano Concertos were brought into existence. A concerto is “a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.” (Webster's Dictionary 2010) Specifically, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 was written in the form of a three-movement concerto. The piece varied between major and minor in each movement. Some of the vital instruments used in this brilliant piece are the piano, strings, flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpets, trombones, timpani, and much more. The part of the piece that was taken by Eric Carmen was the them from the second movement in the concerto. Describing the second movement of the musical composition, it begins with the strings ascending and making the music have a sort of lifting feel. Then the piano gently enters with an “apreggiated figure” and the strings join back in and the piano and strings work together to produce the main theme of the concerto. The music has a slight crescendo and then starts to fade away. Finally, the solo piano finishes the second …show more content…

2. The most likely answer to that would be that he was an admirer of Rachmaninoff and wished to base a song off of his composition. Maybe he felt that the classical piece mixed with a modern style brought more dynamics into the song and made it more interesting. It could also be that if Rachmaninoff's piece was famous or well known, then it would provide familiarity to the new song making it more likeable, and therefore more successful, to his audience. Whatever the case may be, many people have enjoyed Carmen's and Rachmaninoff's works and hopefully will continue to for years to

Show More
Related
501 Words | 3 Pages

She has composed small pieces of compositions for instruments that are uncommon. Some instruments include the trombone, oboe, bassoon, horn, and more wind and horn instruments. She has also composed group concertos for two pianos but has also composed solo concertos for violins, pianos, and horns. The composer has many larger formatted compositions too.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

Duke Ellington, a young man raised in Washington D.C., dedicated his life to music. “The King of Jazz”, a name given to him by a jazz critic, invariably understood that his passion for music at a very young age. The talented composer took up piano lessons at the age of five and spent

Read More
1632 Words | 7 Pages

They were written specifically for his band and soloists. He made sure to take into account the difference between each of his soloists, such as variations in tone. He paid attention to detail when composing and arranging. Such pieces included “Mood Indigo” (1930), which was created to emphasize the trombone, the muted trumpet, and the low-register clarinet. He created pieces specifically for his soloists to emphasize their individual talent, such as “Echoes of Harlem” and “Concerto for Cootie”, which were for Cootie Williams, his trumpet player.

Read More
903 Words | 4 Pages

Sergei Rachmaninoff and Maurice Ravel were two major composers who achieved artistic success before World War I. However, their perspective toward the war were completely different. As a result, they had a very different life under the war. Rachmaninoff was very worried about the increasing tension both between European countries, and communist and Russian government, especially after Russia’s failure in the war against Japan.

Read More
587 Words | 3 Pages

English 9 Mr. Primorsky There are men all over the world saying that cheerleading isn't a sport! Well, there are girls all over the world working hard and even getting hurt from these extreme stunts and hard choreography. For example, cheerleaders have a 56.7% chance of getting hurt while football players have about 47.2% chance. But still, football is said to be more dangerous than cheerleading.

Read More
418 Words | 2 Pages

One of Mozart's famous compositions was the Requiem - Lacrimosa. Another one of his compositions was the symphony no. 41 “Jupiter”. Mozart was also famous for his clarinet concerto. Mozart wrote many different types of compositions, these included operas, symphonies, piano concertos, string courtets, and church music.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

Rachmaninoff’s recording for other musicians Rachmaninoff was an important musician in the late Romantic period. Before the October Revolution in 1917, he paid so more time on composing that his lots of important works were written in this period, such as three piano concertos, 24 preludes, etudes, second symphony and so on. After the October Revolution, he left Russia to the United States, and increasingly focused on playing piano and directing career. In 1919 Rachmaninoff began recording his first commercial recording and he kept recordings until death. During that time, he did not only record his own compositions but also recorded for other musicians, like Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and so on.

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

Being one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical Period, he was called the “Father of the Symphony and String Quartet”. His main works include the Surprise and London Symphonies. It was curious that Haydn, who was not a pianist, would compose a good sixty sonatas and numerous short pieces for the instrument. Many of these were written before Haydn secured the patronage of the Esterházy family and was earning a difficult score of income as a freelancer musician. Before Haydn, it was C.P.E Bach who systemised a structured keyboard sonata form.

Read More
977 Words | 4 Pages

It is forceful and heavy and is very different to the accompaniment of the first section. The accompaniment has a sudden crescendo from the pianissimo of the first section to the mezzo forte of the second section, which shocks the audience. The harmonies are also more chromatic and dissonant, adding to the unease and discomfort felt, both by the character and the audience. In bar 23, instead of the dyads, the left hand begins playing octaves while the right hand plays chords, making the piece feel more menacing. The crescendos, diminuendos and sforzandos in the accompaniment, and the harmonies accurately portray the second and fifth stanzas of the poem, where the character is pulled from his lovely dream and sees his reality, where it is cold and he is alone.

Read More
411 Words | 2 Pages

This piece has three movements, Allegro moderato, Adagio di molto, and Allegro ma non tanto. This piece starts off with a slow and expressive solo by the soloist, Alexi Kenney. The change in dynamics, the use of vibrato, and other techniques enhanced his solo. The orchestra then plays with a homophonic texture with some tempo changes. A few fast solos and a few slow ones followed.

Read More
2073 Words | 9 Pages

He chose to make a ballet blanc, which he composed for a refined instrumental force, manifested as a string orchestra of 34 instrumentalists: 8 first violins, 8 second violins, 6 violas, 4 first cellos, 4 second cellos and 4 double basses • Stravinsky had centered Apollo music in Greek mythology. • The prologue begins with dotted rhythms in the style of a French overture. • 1st Celliopes is a dramatic piece( muse of poetry – tablet) • 2nd polhymnia is a playful piece ( muse of acting and mime – mask) • 3rd

Read More
463 Words | 2 Pages

Frédéric François Chopin was a brilliant musician who made an incredible impact not only on the Romantic Era (19th century), which is when he composed his works but also on countless musicians to come. He was a beloved Polish composer and pianist who, during his short 39-year life, was able to rise to become a cultural icon in music history. His main focuses in music were the melody, harmony, and specific piano techniques that were prominent during the Romantic period. His skill on the piano and his heart-felt pieces forever revolutionized the use of the piano for solo, musical pieces. Chopin was born in a small town near Warsaw, Poland named Zelazowa Wola on March 1, 1810.

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

3 and Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 4 to demonstrate the development of his innovative style, and compare them with Sarcasms in aspects of harmony, rhythm, piano devices, and texture to show the innovations Prokofiev applied in the

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

First of all, the piece is quite interesting as a prelude – an introductory piece of music as it start off with dynamic and vibrant sounds that include the whole ensemble. This piece is structured as a three-part or ternary form which consists of ABA’ form. The idea of this piece is mainly act as an introductory of a story because this piece is only an excerpt from a bigger orchestral performance. From what I have heard, the solo performance is mainly comprise of the woodwind instruments in part B that indicated the slight sign of relief and calmness. The piece has a lot of variation where the composer include different timbres and dynamics such as the high dynamic structure during the first and the last part with the associating crashes of cymbals.

Read More
1266 Words | 6 Pages

It features two main themes, plus many melodic episodes. The structure - in A-B-A form - is clearly identifiable through the themes that mark each of the sections: the lyrical melody that opens the work, the exciting piu animato that ends with a demanding cadenza, and the final recapitulation that is followed by a cheeky and vivacious codetta that brings the work to a dramatic close. Possessing a memorable melodic theme, the piece tests the performer through the unending phrases, virtuosic c and the resultant nimble fingerwork required. It has remained one of the great standards amongst the

Read More

More about Analyzing Rachmaninoff's Song 'All By Myself'

Related Topics

Open Document