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Three musical works inspired by the fog

There are many artists in their different disciplines that have represented the different meteorological phenomena either in literature, in painting, in music or even in dance. The idea of these musical Atmospheres emerged back in the summer of 2012 when preparing a radio collaboration aimed at the dissemination of meteorology. He had some success among the listeners that has since become a small classic every year. This, in the different installments they expose the meteorological impressions that arise when they listen to a descriptive composition of the phenomenon.

Personal opinions that do not have to be in line with the one who reads these lines or with the one he wrote on the staff.

Next, three pieces of three major pieces of the History of Music will be exhibited in which I believe that the composer tried to describe the meteorological phenomenon of fog.

Felix Mendelssohn:

Biography: (Hamburg, 1809 - Leipzig)

He was a composer, pianist and director.They called him "Mozart of the XIX century. It's music, of a great technical and formal perfection, is a splendid synthesis of classic and romantic elements. Romantic that cultivated a classic or classic style that reflected a romantic expressiveness, Mendelssohn was one of the most influential and outstanding musicians of romanticism.

He died in Leipzig - 1847.

One of his works was " Les Hèbrides opus 26"

It is clearly a work of programmatic music, that which follows a literary or descriptive text. His first rounds focus on the sea fog.

The work begins with a melody created by the beams, violas and violoncellos that could describe the marine waves. The nebulous appearance is provided by both the first and second violins. Later are introduced oboes, flautes and piano.

Gustav Mahler.

Biography:(Kaliste, present Austria, 1860)

Austrian composer and conductor was more valued in his time as conductor than as a composer, today he is considered one of the greatest and original symphonists that has given history to long of the twentieth century.

Trained at the Vienna Conservatory, Mahler began at the small provincial theaters such as Ljubljana, Olomouc and Kassel.

In 1897, a unique opportunity came to him when he was offered the address of the Vienna Opera, with the only condition that he would apostatize from his Judaism and embrace the Catholic faith. He did so, and for ten years he was at the head of the theater; ten years rich in artistic experiences in which he improved the artistic level of the company and unveiled new works.

However, the diagnosis of a heart condition and the death of one of his daughters prompted him in 1907 to resign from his position and accept ownership of the Metropolitan Opera House and the Philharmonic Society of New York, a city in which he was established 1911.

He died in Viena-1911

After four years of composition. He created "The simphony number 1", released in 1889.

It consists of four movements, each with an explanatory subtitle. a cold, uncertain and gray environment, typical of a fog on stable ground and not on the sea as Mendelssohn did.

Wind-wood instruments also intervene more briefly. At first the oboe and the bassoon join in a descending melody contributing nocturnality, mystery. After brief interventions of low clarinets and a brief groan of the oboe, the fog expands. At minute 1:30 the flute sounds, the oboe the English horn and the clarinet hinting at the songs and then the fog with the violins returns.

Little by little the fog is spreading and with a drum this musical atmosphere is finished.

Sergéi Rachmaninov:

Biography: (Sergey Vasilievich Rachmaninoff or Rachmaninov, Oneg, Russia, 1873)

Russian composer, pianist and conductor, nationalized American.
Son of a family of landowners, he owed his early musical interest to his father and grandfather, one and the other competent amateur musicians. Despite his extraordinary skills for piano performance,

The Soviet Revolution put an end to this stage, causing his departure, with his family, from Russia. The United States, became their new place of residence.

If in his homeland he had directed his main efforts to creation, in his condition of exile he was forced to devote himself above all to the piano in order to survive.

He died in Beverly Hills, United States-1943

Sergéi Rachmaninov created "The isle of the dead Op.29"

He was inspired by the eponymous picture of Arnold Böcklin that he saw in Paris.

This work begins with the preciencia of a foggy atmosphere using claws and violoncellos and then with the swell and the advance of the boat of Caront (the one that carried the dead until Hades, the Greek underworld) through the river Stigma that connected the earthly world with the inferior.

Later the low clarinets, the contrafagots and the tubes are incorporated, all in their more serious registries. Gradually the musical grouping is taking more force subtlely until the violins appear.

Conclusions:

My opinion is that meteorological aspects in this case as the fog can be reflected in musical works such as these three.