From Mandie Lei's Contribution To Music

When I faced Henri Herbert's music last year when I listened to his first EP, I was amazed. His voice and his piano fit so well together to make really good blues tunes.

Gustav Holst, born in Cheltenham in September 1847, is still today considered to be one of the greatest music composers of all time. He was not very fond of music when he was younger, but he enjoyed the piano. He was sent to Cheltenham Grammar School and forced to take long music lessons, even though he had neuritis in his hands.

Felix Mendelssohn; a well-known husband, father, son, composer, musician, and one of the most- celebrated figures in the early nineteenth century. Felix Mendelssohn also known as Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born to a family of Jewish background on February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany. Two years after the birth of Felix his family moved to berlin due to the French occupation of Hamburg. His parents Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn took on the name Bartholdy after being greatly influenced by liberal ideas in which was considered advantageous in conformity with the intention to mark their emancipation from the ghetto by being baptized into Christian faith which took place in 1816. After their new beginning in Berlin and having the

just wasn’t enough. She then had to add more dramatic to her music to show more affection

It is an extremely difficult time for the Music Industry which began in the 1930 and

Johannes Brahms was born in Germany in 1833. He was a musical child prodigy! Luckily, his father recognized his talent and helped teach him music. Brahms got jobs playing in bars and taverns around Hamburg. In his teenage years he focused on dance music which he played every night as part of his job. However, since Brahms disliked wasting time he propped a book up and read while he played piano. When Brahms was 20 he met Robert Schumann, who called Brahms a genius! Eventually Brahms became one of the most famous composers of his day, with word of his music spreading through his home country and the many surrounding it. Brahms music brought warm and rich romantic music to the classical age. However, Brahms was quite self critical and often did

Plato once opined “Music gives a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” This Greek philosopher knew what makes the world go around and he knew that a signal angelic note or a beautiful song could possibly change someone’s mood. Kazual(Casual) an Americans Got Talent: Semi-Finalist, took a page from Plato. They are currently touring nationwide. An opportunity arose to meet them at the 2016 Ohio State Fair. The compassion and pure love for music could be seen in their eyes as they belted out beautiful runs, breathtaking falsettos and perfectly executed harmonies. Music would not be where it is today without this constant drive to use music to touch peoples heart. Kazual strongly believe in covers of songs. They take artist songs and turn them into their own work of art, like Pentatonic. They are no way comparable to Lata Mangeshkar, but the few songs that they have done has impacted the melting pot we call Columbus Ohio. Country, jazz, blues, pop, classic rock and bluegrass are but a few genres of music Kazual has sung at various stands throughout of the fairgrounds.

“The Planets” is a seven-movement suite by Gustav Holst, an English composer of Swedish immigrant stock. Each movement is an independent “mood picture” according to the composer, sharing neither thematic or stylistic material between each movement. As such, it is perhaps best to see each work as a series of symphonic poems connected by their astrological subject matter rather than by audible musical motifs. Holst began work on the suite that came to define his musical legacy in the 1910s, in the midst of a mid-life crisis brought about by a series of grandly conceived pieces by the composer that met with an at best tepid reception. In the course of writing “The Planets”, Holst was inspired by the theosophic writings of Alan Leo and his friend

Django Reinhardt was born into the lifestyle of his gypsy parents on January 24th, 1910 in a village of Belgium known as Liberchies. Django, Romani for “I awake,” has inspired and astonished various generations of musicians and lovers of jazz with his remarkable control of the guitar and the story of his upbringing. At just the age of eight, his parents moved near the stretch of barricades that encompassed the streets of old Paris. Up until he was about twenty years old, he had never really set down roots somewhere, worn a suit, or lived in a real house. These French Gypsies, also known as Manouches, were living in a world of their own, primitive in their way of thinking and skeptical of popular science. Django was raised in a lifestyle

Many prominent musicians produced major works during the romantic period. Among these are Beethoven, Strause, and Bach. But the musician that I think had the most impact, was Franz Schubert. Franz Peter, born on 31 January 1797 was one of fourteen children born of Franz Theodore Schubert and Elisabeth Vietz, four of which survived. He grew up in an apartment that daily converted to a classroom in which his father taught several elementary school classes. He received a thorough basic education; his father being a good teacher, and son being a bright student. From his father Franz also learned to play the violin, and from his

Standing on stage behind The Philadelphia Orchestra, I peered into the empty auditorium. The red velvet-lined seats were plush; the crown molding was elegant and classic. As I stood on the stage of Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium, I wished I had smuggled my camera onstage to capture the scene from my vantage point as some of my fellow choristers of The Philadelphia Singers had done. Here I was, at the mere age of twenty-five, performing on the same stage as musical greats such as Enrico Caruso, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Yo-Yo Ma, Joni Mitchell, and Itzhak Perelman. In the moment I felt scared and excited, and unsure I even deserved to be there.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born January 27, 1757 and died on December 5, 1791. He did not have a long life at all; nevertheless; he was a musical genius. He was born into a musical family and started at the mere age of three playing the keyboard. Mozart composed so many different works and genres and that is why he’s well known all over the world. Although he is considered a musical genius, he started way too early. His childhood was rushed and he was forced to grow up. This led to many problem such as him having trouble managing his money and was constantly leading a life of fluctuating prosperity and poverty.

Franz Peter Schubert wrote Over one-thousand completed pieces. It was Nine symphonies, Chamber music, 600 Lieder. 13 operas, hundreds of sacred and choral works Wrote over 300 works by the time he was 21. When 18 years old wrote 143 songs. At 19 years wrote 179 works. When Ludwig van Beethoven did 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas and 16 string quartets. He also composed other chamber music, choral works (including the celebrated Missa Solemnis) and songs.

Dark, yet beautiful, Schubert’s music had a way of sinking into every human’s soul. This Austrian composer’s enchantment for love, nature, exploring, and beauty inclined him to write over 600 songs deep down from the heart. Sadly, Schubert wasn’t given the opportunity for a long life; at age 31, he was diagnosed with Typhoid Fever. His last wish was to hear Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 one last time and to be buried aside Beethoven, his lifelong role model (“Franz Schubert”).

Music originates from all over the world since the beginning of time. Complex or simple, fast or slow, loud or soft. It’s what you feel. It could be your method of escape or keeping you living. Music is love. Music is passion. Music is unity. Music is emotion. Music is belief. Music is beauty. Music is life. Music is perfection. Music is imperfection. Music is peace. “Through music we can live forever.”