Favourite Classical music pieces – Für Elise

“Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

wrote W.B. Yeats to the love of his life, Maud Gonne. Love is a strange phenomenon that can make mediocre men in to poets, artists and composers. What happens when a great poet, artist or a composer fall in love?
ඉහත කවිය W.B. Yeats කවියා Maud Gonne වෙත ඇති සිය ආදරය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට ලියූ කවියක්.ආදරයට පුළුවන් විශේෂ දක්ෂතා නැති සාමාන්‍ය ‍මනුෂ්‍යයෙක් පවා කවියෙක්,චිත්‍රශිල්පියෙක් හෝ සංගීතඥයෙක් කරන්න.ඉතින් සහජයෙන් ම දක්ෂ කවියෙක්,චිත්‍රශිල්පියෙක් හෝ සංගීතඥයෙක් ආදරයෙන් බැඳුනාම ‍මොකක් සිද්ධ වෙයිද?

As evident by the above poem, it inspires them to create miraculous compositions. The piece of music that I wish to write about today is the result of a maestro falling in love.
එයින් ඔවුන්ව යොමු කරනවා මේ තියෙන කවිය වගේ අතිවිශිෂ්ඨ නිර්මාණ බිහිකිරීමට.අද මම විස්තර කරන්න යන්නේ ඉතිහාසයේ හිටපු මහා සංගීතඥයෙක් ආදරයෙන් බැඳීම නිසා බිහිවුනු නිර්මාණයක් ගැන.

Ludwig van Beethoven
(Source:  http://bit.ly/5qVOr)

In the time period 1770- 1827 lived a German composer and pianist. He is known to the masses not only for his brilliant compositions but also for the rather unique bits of trivia that circle his life. (Gossip, if you may.) He was none other than Ludwig van Beethoven, who of course is my favourite composer of all time.
මේ සංගීතඥයා ජීවත් වුනේ 1770-1827 කාල පරාසයේ ජර්මනියේ.මොහු දක්ෂ පියානො වාදකයෙක්ද වුනා.මොහුගේ ප්‍රසිද්ධියට මොහු අතින් සිදුවුනු අතිශය සුවිශේෂී නිර්මාණ වගේම මොහු‍ගේ පෞද්ගලික ජීවිතයේ රසමුසු තැන්ද ඉවහල් වුනා.ඔහු තමයි මගේ ප්‍රියතම බටහිර සංගීතඥයා වෙන Ludwig van Beethoven[ඉංග්‍රීසි උච්චාරණය: /ˈlʊdvɪɡ væn ˈbeɪt.həʊvən/ (ලුඩ්විග් වෑන් බේතෝවෙන්), ජර්මන් උච්චාරණය: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːt.hoːfn̩] ලුඩ්විෂ් ව’(ෆ)න් බේතෝ(ඕ)ෆන්].

Für Elise or in musical jargon, “the Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO 59 and Bia 515) for solo piano.”, is the most popular piece composed by the maestro. The German name “Für Elise” translates in to English as "For Elise". Who this Elise was, remains a mystery to this day.
Für Elise, සංගීත භාෂාවෙන් කියනවා නම් “the Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO 59 and Bia 515) for solo piano.”, තමයි බේතෝවෙන්ගේ වඩාත්ම ලෝක ප්‍රසිද්ධ සංගීත නිර්මාණය.“Für Elise” කියන ජර්මන් නමේ තේරුම තමයි “එලීස් වෙනුවෙනි” කියන එක.මේ එලීස් කියන්නේ කාටද කියන එක අදටත් නොවිසඳුනු ගැටළුවක්.

The most interesting bit of information about this piece apart from its unparalleled beauty and simplicity is the hidden message in the first three notes of the score. The three notes gives out the name “Elise” in two different ways. The first three notes are, E-D♯-E, which are enharmonically equivalent sounds to E-E♭-E. The E♭ is called Es in German and is pronounced as "S". Add the non-notational “LI” and you get E-(L)-(I)-E♭-E (E-li-es-e -> Elise). The second way to get this is by singing the first several notes of the composition with note names. “Dis” is the pronunciation for D♯. So we end up with “E-Dis-E-Dis-E”, which is a mondegreen (a phrase that sounds similar to another phrase so far that mishearing or misinterpretation of that phrase, when the other is pronounced or Vice-versa, is highly likely) to the name "Elise".
මේ සංගීත නිර්මාණයේ සරල බව හා අලංකාරයට අමතරව මෙහි තිබෙන තවත් සිත් ඇදගන්නා අංගයක් තමයි නිර්මාණයේ මුල් ස්වරතුනේ සඟවා ඇති පණිවිඩය.මුල් ස්වර තුනෙන් “එලීස්” කියන නම දෙවිධියකට කියවෙනවා. මෙහි මුල් ස්වර තුන වෙන්නේ, E-D♯-E මේ ස්වර නාදමය වශයෙන් ගත්තාම E-E♭-E කියන ස්වර තුනට සමානයි.ජර්මන් භාෂාවෙන් E♭ කියවන්නේ “Es” විධියට.ඒ කියන්නේ ඒක වර නැගෙන්නේ “එස්” කියලා. දැන් සංගීතයට අයත් නැති “LI” අකුරු දෙකත් එකතුකලාම ලැබෙනවා E-(L)-(I)-E♭-E (E-li-es-e -> Elise). දෙවෙනි ක්‍රමය තමයි මුල් ස්වර තුන ඒවායේ නම් වලින් කියවීම. D♯ කියන ස්වරය කියවන්නේ “Dis” කියලා. ඉතින් මේ ස්වර කියවෙන්නේ “E-Dis-E-Dis-E” (ඊ-ඩිස්-ඊ-ඩිස්-ඊ) විධියට. ශබ්ධමය වශයෙන් මේක “එලීස්” කියන නමට ආසන්නයි.

Beethoven had at least three romantic affairs, none of which resulted in marriage. (He died a bachelor) Of these three affaires, some speculate Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza (1792–1851) to be the inspiration of the music piece claiming that the title “Für Elise” to be a faulty transcription the title “Für Therese" by Ludwig Nohl who discovered the score and published it 40 years after the composer's death.Some scholars argue that this was written for the German soprano Elisabeth Röckel (1793–1883) who indeed was known in Vienna as "Elise" and was a close friend of Beethoven's since 1808.(Not one of the said three affairs)
බේතෝවෙන් තෙවරක් තෙවරක් ආදරයෙන් බැඳුනු බවකුයි ඉතිහසෙයේ සඳහන් වෙන්නේ.ඒත් මේ එකක් වත් විවාහයෙන් කෙළවරවුනේ නෑ.සමහර විද්වතුන්ගේ අදහසේ හැටියට බේතෝවෙන් මේ නිර්මාණය කර තිබෙන්නේ මේ කාන්තාවන් තිදෙනාගෙන් එක් අයෙක් වෙන Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza (1792–1851) වෙනුවෙන්. ඔවුන් කියන හැටියට මේ නිර්මාණයේ නියම නම “Für Therese”.මේ නම් මාරුව සිද්ධවුනේ Ludwig Nohl ගේ වරදින් කියලා තමයි ඔවුන් කියන්නේ.Ludwig Nohl තමයි මුළින්ම මේ නිර්මාණය බේතෝවෙන්ගේ අත්පිටපත් අතරින් සොයාගෙන ප්‍රසිද්ධ කළේ.ඒ වෙන කොට බේතෝවෙන්ගේ මරණය සිද්ධවෙලාත් අවුරුදු 40ක් ගතවෙලා ඉවරයි.වෙනත් විද්වතුන් පිරිසකගේ අදහසේ හැටියට මේ නිර්මාණය කෙරිලා තියෙන්නේ ජර්මන් ගායිකාවක් වූ Elisabeth Röckel (1793–1883) සඳහායි.අර මුලින් සඳහන් කළ තිදෙනාගෙන් අයෙක් නොවුනත් මැය 1808 සිට බේතෝවෙන්ගේ ළඟම මිතුරියක්ව සිටි අතර වියෙනා නුවර දී ඇය හැඳින් වූවේත් “එලීස්” යන නමින්.

You can listen to the famous piece from the embedded YouTube video. Like in the previous post, Air on the G String, the video clearly shows the music notation and spatial note variation. Once you have listened to it, you will know from where you have heard this before. The extreme simplicity and popularity of this tune has had done both good and bad to it. While it took this piece to the ears of the people who are not fans of classical music, it also made them make mental links of this piece of love to very uncharacteristic actions and objects such as reversing vehicles and bread sellers. That exactly is the reason why I first gave you the piece’s background and then gave you the piece to hear. I was hoping that now because you know about the piece, you can enjoy it for what it really was.
පහත ඇති YouTube සල දසුනෙන් මේ නිර්මාණයට සවන්දෙන්න ඔබට පුළුවන්. කලින් මම ලියු Air on the G String හි සල දසුනේ වගේම මෙහිත් ස්වර ප්‍රස්ථාරය හා රූපක ස්වර විසිරීම පෙන්වා තිබෙනවා.මෙයට සවන් දුන් පසු ඔබ මෙය ‍කළින් අසා තිබෙන්නේ කොහේදීදැයි මතක් වේවී.මේ නිර්මාණයේ ඇති සරල බව හා ජනප්‍රියත්වය එයට යහපත් මෙන්ම අයහපත් ප්‍රතිඵලද ගෙන ආවා.යහපත් අතට ගත් කළ එය දැන් සම්භාව්‍යප සංගීත රසිකයන්ට පමණක් හුරුපුරුදු නාද රටාවක් නොවෙයි.නමුත් අනිත් අතට සම්භාව්‍යස සංගීත රසිකයන් නොවන අය එයට සවන් දුන් විට දැන් ඔවුනට මතක් වෙන්නේ පසුපසට යන වාහනයක් හෝ පාන් වෙළෙන්දෙක්.අන්න ඒ නිසා තමයි මම මුළින් ඔබට මෙහි ඉතිහාසය කියා දී ඊට පසු එය අසන්නට සැලැස්වූයේ.දැන් මේ නිර්මාණය ගැන ඔබ දන්නා කරුණු නිසා ඒදෙස වෙනත් කෝණයකින් (මුළින්ම එය ඇසූ අයෙකුට දැනෙන හැඟීමෙන්) ඒ දෙස බලන්නට ඔබට හැකියැයි සිතමි.



P.S.:- On another sad note, the above mentioned poem of W.B. Yeats didn’t win him the love of Maud Gonne either.
ප.ලි. : තවත් දුක්බර සිද්ධියක්. ඉහත සඳහන් කළ කවියෙන් Maud Gonne ගේ ආදරය දිනා ගන්නට W.B. Yeats ට හැකි වූයේද නැහැ.

Favourite Classical music pieces – Air on the G string

Since I promised to bring you my favourite classical pieces, I thought of starting with my all time favourite Classical Music piece.

Before going in to detail about this piece, I’ll give you proof for the fact that you are familiar with this tune. Yes. As you might have guessed from the information from my previous post, this tune was used as the basis for their début single "Wasanthaye" by Bathiya and Santhush. You can listen to their adaptation from the embedded Youtube clip to the right.


And now please do listen to the original piece from the second embedded Youtube clip. I particularly choose this clip from Youtube because it clearly shows the music notation and spatial note variation. (Hit the full screen button if you do not have supper eyes that can see all of these details in the tiny embedded box)


Johann Sebastian Bach
Source http://bit.ly/yF9NS

Now let’s look into some background information about the piece. As the post title says, it is commonly known as “Air on the G string”. This is an adaptation of the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 by the baroque era German Composer Johann Sebastian Bach.  (31 March 1685– 28 July 1750). Bach is greatly considered to be the musician who brought the music of Baroque era to its prime. His other notable works include  Brandenburg concertos , St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, and etc. [Note: If you are an X-Files fan, you might remember on the first episode of Season 2, the “Voyager Golden Record” which was included in the Voyager spacecraft  hoping to be discovered by aliens is mentioned. This Voyager Golden Record contained Bach’s Brandenburg concertos.] It is widely believed that Bach composed this between 1717 and 1723 in Leipzig for his patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt.
August Wilhelmj
Source http://bit.ly/bYdm9X

In 1800s Another German composer named August Wilhelmj took second part (Air) of the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major and transposed the key down to C major, Which effectively made it possible to play the piece using only one string of the violin namely, the G string. Hence comes the name; “Air on the G String”. Bach wrote the original piece to be played using a Trumpet , a timpani, an oboe, a violin, a viola with a   basso continuo (an accompaniment from a composed bass part by playing the bass notes and improvising harmony above them). Wilhelmj rendered the derived composition to be played by a violin and a piano.

Throughout the ages this piece of music has been used in various places and has been adapted by many and rendered in to different faces and shapes. (Even most of the toy organs have this integrated in to them.) I still tend to treasure the original version above all. As far as the adaptations are concerned, I find the following cappella version most soul soothing.




Sources: http://en.wikipedia.orghttp://www.youtube.com/

Favourite Classical music pieces – Introduction

(Source : http://bit.ly/aFlrJc )
It has been some time since I wrote on my blog. This is because on weekdays I have to be faithful to my FaceBook games and weekends I am usually at home desperately trying to keep up with Twitter conversations via my phone, while watching a movie or two on the computer. But this week is different. The university asked us to write a report on our industrial training. So I stayed at my Grand-aunt’s place at the weekend instead of going home. But try as I might. Writing reports is a dull task. So I thought as long as I have to write something, what about writing my long forgotten blog? That is why I am here typing away my thoughts once again.

Now I am sure that you are wondering “What in the blessed world does the title have to do with the previous paragraph” (Not in exact same words though) To clear things out I shall explain my motivation henceforth.

If I ask you “Have you ever listened to classical music?” I am sure most of you would say “No”. But the truth is even if you are a hardcore rock fan; you most definitely have heard classical music pieces. Let me give you some examples.
  • Have you ever heard the tune that most of the three-wheeler bread sellers use? That is “Für Elise” by Beethoven.  
  • Have you ever listened to the closing credits of the cartoon “Denis the Menace” (දඟයා)?  That is Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart.
  • Have you ever watched Twilight? (I know that the question raised a few eyebrows J) There Edward and Bella listens to “Clair de Lune” by Debussy.
  • Now for more controversy! Have you ever listened to “Wasanthaye” by Bathiya and Santhush? Yes? Well I am not going to tell what classical piece that is, because it would be the subject of my next blog post. (If I ever write it that is)


Now I shall explain what  triggered a blog post all of a sudden.  Well the story goes like this,

The other day I was listening to Beethoven’s Für Elise at my work place. One of our graphics designers heard the tune coming from headphones (I listen to music very loud of-course) and inquired, “ඔය අර චූන් පාං සින්දුව නේද?” (“Isn’t it the cheerful bread song?”). Needless to say I was quite shocked. He and most of the people that have heard this tune from the bread sellers, has created a mental connection between the two.

( Source :  http://bit.ly/c3mYRI )
I just cannot imagine a reason that a bread seller would choose a love tune as his theme other than it comes pre-programmed in some electronic gadgets (Not my area of expertise).  Nevertheless I am still grateful for their task of making the tune popular. So I wanted to give some pointers to some of the most beautiful and popular tunes of all time for the novice who is under the assumption s/he is blind (In this case, deaf) to Classical Music (which of course is not the case). I invite you all to stay with the blog posts that are to follow.  If you are a novice you may learn something, if you are an expert you can correct my mistakes. Either way, stay with me while I take you through a crash course of the language of the gods.