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Love-themed compositions

Discussion in 'Repertoire' started by juufa72, Dec 30, 2008.

  1. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    The next installment of the local piano group is "Valentine's Day--or relating to". So I need to find a managable composition that has to do with love, valentine's day, hear-break, etc. etc.

    All I can find is Chopin-Liszt's My Darling (Sweetheart).

    I would appreciate all the help I can get; even if the title has no mention of love, the appropriate key would suffice.

    Thank you thank you thank you!

    -Don Juan.
     
  2. Terez

    Terez New Member

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    Well, any Chopin nocturne is about luv...
     
  3. pianolady

    pianolady Monica Hart, Administrator Staff Member Piano Society Artist Trusted Member

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    Don't do the Chopin-Liszt piece. I think you and I are the only ones who like it.

    What about Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 or No. 2. Or maybe better is Gnossiennes no. 1. That one has that sexy, seductive sound that is perfect for Valentine's Day. Or Barber's no. 2 Excursions - another seductive piece and not too difficult.
     
  4. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    I'll take a look. I also found Griegs op.17 N.Folk Dance titled "By Chance Have You Seen My Wife?" to be love-related :lol:

    But keep giving suggestions when and if they come to your head.

    Thank you once again.
     
  5. Terez

    Terez New Member

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    Then there's the Schumann Romance in F# - not too difficult, and a really nice piece.
     
  6. bclever

    bclever New Member

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    Hey Juuf, I think it's going to be hard to find compositions about love because
    everybody knows that once you get a girlfriend there's no time for piano. :)

    Slightly less cynically I think you'll find more fertile ground (no pun intended) in the opera
    and song transcriptions. Check out "Spirto Gentil" from Donizetti's "La Favorita" for example.
    And there must be a transcription of "Vissi d'Arte" from Tosca somewhere or something from
    Rigoletto. I know for sure there are transcriptions of "Le Donna e Mobile" (which I know
    is way over played but fits your theme) and "Questa o quella" from Rigoletto.

    I'm looking on Amazon right now and this album has scads of love themed aria transcriptions:

    http://www.amazon.com/Aria-Opera-withou ... gy_m_img_b

    Good luck!
     
  7. bclever

    bclever New Member

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  8. alf

    alf Active Member Piano Society Artist

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    What about a number from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet Op.75? Nos.2 and 9 are just 2-page long and overall doable. They're not strictly about Romeo, Juliet or both :), but as Valentines it's better so, seen how badly they screwed up their romance.
     
  9. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    Did they? Or were they victims of family vendettas and not knowing how to check the person's pulse to see if they are truly dead? :lol:
     
  10. alf

    alf Active Member Piano Society Artist

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    This could be a good hint for a Dr. House episode. Anyway, Romeo and Juliet is a story about nosey priests and inefficient postal service, so typical of Italy since then.
     
  11. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    I thought Mussolini took care of the trains and postal service? :wink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN6QHlCs7Gs
     
  12. alf

    alf Active Member Piano Society Artist

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    You thought wrong: http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp :wink: :p

    HAHA, an impressive Jack Oakie (whose speaking style here reminds a bit of Chico Marx).
     
  13. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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  14. alf

    alf Active Member Piano Society Artist

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    That dubbing stinks! Italian dubbers are generally good, but there are guys who dub so many different actors. For the average Italian film watcher, behind the voice of Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Christopher Lloyd there is just one man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferruccio_Amendola. :lol: :lol: :lol:
     
  15. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    I am not an Opera-expert (nor do I want to be), but is Rigolettoa love-based opera?
     
  16. bclever

    bclever New Member

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    Ah Juuf, that is too bad! Yes, Rigoletto is a story of Lust/Love/Betrayal/Tragic Death (not necessarily
    in that order). Perhaps one day you will change your mind about opera.
     
  17. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    Don't misunderstand me; I enjoy listening to Opera. But I don't want to become a master of knowing everything about Opera. I'd rather just be a peanut in the gallery of peanuts who enjoys good music and nothing more.
     
  18. juufa72

    juufa72 New Member Piano Society Artist

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    I printed out and am going through the Andante Quartet from Rigoletto and have a question about it. Since I have no teacher, I am on my own to figure out how to play certain parts of compositions and sometimes it sounds good to me, but when I hear it professionally played, I hear that my note values are way off.

    Therefore, how do I play the left hand part in the "poco et poco accelerando"? I'm used to Tchaikovsky's Neopolitan Dance from the Album for the Youth, is this just an inversion of the dance?

    Any commentary will greatly help me.
     
  19. pianolady

    pianolady Monica Hart, Administrator Staff Member Piano Society Artist Trusted Member

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    Do have a link or attachment/scan of the piece?
     
  20. bclever

    bclever New Member

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    Excellent choice for a Valentine's Day piano party. The four voices of the quartet are the lustful and
    unrepentent lech the Duke, Rigoletto the hunchbacked court jester, Gilda, his beautiful and
    innocent daughter and a tavern wench named Maddalena. The duke is serenading Maddalena
    in order to woo her (after he has already had and forgotten Gilda), but Gilda mistakenly thinks the
    song is for her and she is singing about her love for the Duke. Rigoletto is singing his warnings
    to Gilda about the Duke and Maddalena is responding to the Duke's serenade. Only a few minutes
    later Gilda ends up dead in a horrible case of intentional mistaken identity and Rigoletto is
    crushed because of his folly. All the elements of great opera right in one scene!

    Good luck with the playing of it Juuf.
     

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