Keyboard Kings

              If you were to ask me to name some of the greatest mathematicians of all time, one of the first people that would come to my mind would be J.S. Bach.

           "What?" You may ask. "He was a composer and a musician!"

            But, you see, I think of music as one of the purest most wonderful forms of mathematics.  It's based on intervals, progressions, and combinations that can be expressed numerically as much as by lettered notes.  I can see a work of music as a fantastic equation which deciphers some of life's deepest meanings.  Listen to one of Bach's many works for keyboard and you might begin to understand what I am saying.

           Mozart was an early showman who might be compared to being the Elton John of his day, if I may be so crass in saying.  As a youngster, Mozart toured with his father throughout Europe and was famed for his keyboard wizardry.

           Some later more serious composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, or Schumann were keyboard kings in their own right composing some of the greatest works for piano of all time.  Then of course, there were the keyboard specialists like Chopin and Cesar Franck and the heralds of the romantic age of music, Brahms and Rachmaninov.   There were the mystical sounds of the impressionists such as Debussy, Ravel, and Eric Satie.

           Any discussion of keyboard kings would be incomplete without mentioning Franz Liszt, one of the first superstars of music.  When Lisztomania swept Europe this popular artist played hundreds of sold out concerts during which women swooned and fought for articles of the musician's clothing.  Some have said that  Liszt would sometimes play the piano with such ferocity that the instrument would sometimes break, while other times he would play with such rapturous beauty that audiences would be entranced.

         With the advent of the age of jazz many wonderful keyboardists came onto the scene.  Artists such as Dave Brubeck, Erroll Garner, and Keith Jarrett have had illustrious careers playing their popular styles.  The rock era has also seen many fine keyboardists like Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, and Nicky Hopkins.

          A dear friend of mine has established himself in the Southern California area with his self-taught keyboard artistry.   Sebastian Sidi has gained a sizable following playing concerts and other venues over the past decade.  With seven CDs and two live concert DVDs, Sebastian has sold hundreds of thousands of copies without distribution from a record label.  He is the equivalent to a self-published author and doing extremely well at it.  He is certainly a Keyboard King in his geographical realm and he would love to take his musical message to the rest of the world.

           Here is a sample of Sebastian in concert as he plays his own composition, "A Moment in Time":



         Here is a promo video for his composition "The Ride":




               For more information about Sebastian, his tour schedule, or purchasing his CDs and DVDs, you can visit his website.


               And of course let us not forget the other royalty of the keyboards--me and all of you as we type away at our blog entries for A to Z.   How are your fingers holding out so far?
            


*********

Classical Fathers Day

            Since Sunday is Father's Day in the United States, today's installment about classical music will briefly look at some of the famous father figures who were involved in this genre of music.  We don't really hear much about the offspring of many of these composers unless we read a biography.  But the fathers of these composers often played a big role in their successes and sometimes the children of the composers became famous themselves.

         J.S. Bach came from a musical family.  His father and his uncles were musicians.  At an early age Johann Sebastian was taught to play violin and organ by his father, who died when his son was ten years old.  Johann was then raised by his brother, also a musician, who continued his younger sibling's musical training.   Later Johann had several children by two wives and some of those became musicians and famous composers as well.

          If you've seen the wonderful movie Amadeus, which is the romanticized version of the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, you may remember that he was a child musical prodigy who toured Europe extensively with his father and sister.  Mozart's father was a professional musician and composer and he coached his son in playing music, a talent which young Amadeus took to naturally, and wrote down the boy's earliest compositions.   Mozart was amazingly prolific in his musical output in his brief 35 year life.  He and his wife had six children, but only two survived past infancy.  One of his sons became a musician and composer.  If you have never seen the film Amadeus, it probably is a pretty accurate depiction of the real life composer and it is an excellent film that I would highly recommend.

         Another well known composer who knew Mozart and was Beethoven's teacher for a while is Franz Joseph Haydn, who was affectionately referred to as "Papa" Haydn.  His father was not a professional musician but was self-taught at playing music and had a great enthusiasm for the art.  He recognized his son's abilities and sent his son away at age six to study music.  Haydn's childhood was difficult at times, but his father's decision paid off with Franz Joseph becoming one of the most influential composers of all time.  Having over 100 symphonies and over 50 string quartets attributed to him, Haydn has been called "The Father of the Symphony" and "The Father of the String Quartet".   Additionally he wrote many other notable works.  Though he was adored by younger musicians and many others who gave him the sobriquet Papa, he never had any children of his own.

        Another composer film I would highly recommend is Immortal Beloved, which is based on the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, who was probably the most famous composer of  all time. This film is a mystery, romance, and biography.   Beethoven's grandfather and father were both musicians. His father was his first music teacher and was purportedly a harsh taskmaster.   Ludwig had no known children, but he raised his nephew after his brother died.  The nephew, Karl, was trained in music by the uncle, but Beethoven was a harsh guardian like his own father had been.  When he was older, Karl unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide due to his difficulties with his uncle Ludwig.  Karl and his uncle Ludwig later reconciled, but the nephew joined the army to get away.  Ludwig Van Beethoven died not too long after his nephew went away.

           The fathers of all of these great composers had a profound effect on what their sons achieved in their lives.  These fathers supported and instilled ambition to create within their sons.  A closer study of the lives of these musical giants might show a correlation between the way this was achieved and the way the sons turned out in their lives, but one thing is certain-- musical genius was engendered within all of them.     

Create a MySpace Playlist at MixPod.com