Watch this video of the famous choir music composition “Va pensiero sull ‘ali dorate” from the opera Nabucco composed by italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. This recording is from 1979 and features the Choir of the National Theatre from the Opera of Paris conducted by Nello Santi.
Giuseppe Verdi is the best know italian composer of opera music, however, music was not his only talent, he also was a politician and became an elected senator in the italian parliament after the triumph of the revolution against Austria.
The opera Nabucco was performed for the first time in 1842 and made Giuseppe Verdi famous all over Europe for the beauty of its music, while in Italy the opera became famous too because of the political message it contains: the singing of the oppressed people who desire freedom, represented here by the choir of the jews. For this reason the choir you can listen to in this video clip has become the anthem of the oppressed people from all over the world.
In the opera Nabucco one can observe Verdi’s pertinence to the epoche of romanticism. The opera also features beautifull arias and more choir passages that are worth listening to.
This composition has also been used in many movie pictures.
Choir of the Opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi Performed by the National Opera of Paris
Turkish Folk Music with a Polyphonic Flavor from the Black Sea Region
Watch this video with a turkish choir singing an ancient tune from the Black Sea region. Human voice is one of the nicest sounding music instruments and people sing around the whole world. When arranged for various voices, the tunes become much more interesting than the antique medieval choir music sung during the services of the catholic church.
The different voices can simultaneously sing different notes and so build a chord. Then of course, the melodies must follow certain rules in order to stay within the harmonies without sounding dissonant. One of the most illustrative methods for understanding and writing music for up to four voices is Harmonielehre by Arnold Schoenberg who shows the rules for the independent voices as well as the resulting chords and the rules the voices must follow in relation with the other voices in order to build the typical western counterpoint and in relation with the harmonies established by the simultaneously sounding voices. This type of arrangement is called polyphonic music.
Aretha Franklin Performing I Was Born To Sing The Gospel
Watch this video with female soul singer Aretha Franklin performing I Was Born to Sing the Gospel. The gospel is an early american form of religious music which originally was sung by black people in the churches. I don’t like to attend church services, partly because of the lame organ music usually played in the catholic churches. But I can assure you that I would be a fervent servant of the lord if my parents would have brought me to attend baptist church services in the US. I would hav falllen in love with the choir and solo singers.
The main difference between traditional catholic church music and black american church music is that the catholic version of music tries to eliminate the pleasure the body can feel when executing music. Catholic choirs are standing still, almost frozen while black gospel choirs move from foot to foot and clap the hands.
And of course, the melodies include some blue notes which make the music especially interesting and illustrates how the gospel together with the blues are the base for soul and some rock music. Some catholic pope decided that music in the services should be only to praise the lord and was regarded as kind of marketing effort in order to get simple people into the church.
Unfortunately, the video has a still image instead of moving characters, but we will llok for more gospel music videos and publish them here.
Silent Night is the Most Famous Christmas Song Performed Here by the Innsbrucker Capellknaben
This video contains the most famous christmas song called Silent Night composed by Joseph Mohr (who lived from 1792 to 1848) in 1816 , and arranged for organ by Franz Xaver Gruber in the austrian town of Salzburg. The song has been recorded by artists from all around the world and is presented in this video in its original version. The song is frequently recorded by choirs, especially children choirs and we have even seen chinese language versions of the piece.
The german lyrics of this song are as follows:
1. Stille Nacht! Heil’ge Nacht!
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute heilige Paar.
Holder Knab’ im lockigten Haar,
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!
2. Stille Nacht! Heil’ge Nacht!
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb’ aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund’.
Jesus in deiner Geburt!
3. Stille Nacht! Heil’ge Nacht!
Die der Welt Heil gebracht,
Aus des Himmels goldenen Höhn,
Uns der Gnaden Fülle läßt sehn,
Jesum in Menschengestalt!
4. Stille Nacht! Heil’ge Nacht!
Wo sich heut alle Macht
Väterlicher Liebe ergoß,
Und als Bruder huldvoll umschloß
Jesus die Völker der Welt!
5. Stille Nacht! Heil’ge Nacht!
Lange schon uns bedacht,
Als der Herr vom Grimme befreit
In der Väter urgrauer Zeit
Aller Welt Schonung verhieß!
6. Stille Nacht! Heil’ge Nacht!
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Alleluja,
Tönt es laut bei Ferne und Nah:
“Jesus der Retter ist da!”
You might want to read the translation into english of Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, feel free to visit this webpage about the christmas tradition of the western world.
Music and Video Guide 