No need to undercut yourself there at the end. Of course it matters, because it matters to you. And you just made it matter to me! Never feel shame for feeling passionate about something. Brilliant video! Thanks so much for sharing your insights.
I've never thought about it, but it really sounds plausible that there's an encore effect that popularises certain pieces. Not only do you hear it more often, it's also the last thing you hear and remember the most!
What got me is that harmonic shift before the resolution. I'm a sucker for it , all the time. LoL . I realized some of my favorite songs ever tend to do this a lot. Also the ties or slurred expression and just the pacing as you mentioned. I've never heard this before but that's what stood out to me. Love your videos. You are a genius! 👏🙌
The points raised in this video reminded me of The Swan by Saint-Saens, another beloved encore piece! Thank you for a wonderful video, again, Nahre :) I love Meditation so much.
Cool vid! Had heard it before but never delved deeper. I liked you covering the harmonic subversion by modal interchange and that lengthy section in the V chord. I suspect that tension sitting there made the carthasis even more powerful, hence the emotional impact many felt!
An interesting look at a piece I grew up hearing as part of a local TV station's nightly sign-off. I think I'll check out the opera it's part of too, as long as I can see what's going on and know what they're talking/singing about. The reprise of the Meditation at the end, with the guy singing about the courtesan's redemption sounds intriguing as well. Great work!
Thank you! I so enjoy and respect your presentations! I love many "uncool" pieces of music - sometimes it's tricky as they became (Heaven help us!) popular and often overplayed. It's similar in other art forms like film and literature: something that's been heard or seen or talked about too much becomes disrespected. But if you're honest, you have to be willing to give it the credit for becoming so loved in the first place - if its truly a work of art, it will continue to move us and so deserves to be unapologetically embraced!
At last, thank you. Show-pieces, especially violin show-off pieces, are little more than exercises to impress or intimidate other violinists. They don't always sound good, no matter how expertly played. This is a piece that I play at home. Thank you for your expertise and sensitivity.
I saw the video title and knew it would be about the Meditation. Great music -- like the Meditation, Beethoven 7, Clair de lune etc. -- is great no matter how many times it's played. I can't imagine being jaded enough not to enjoy it. Thank you for the context and analysis.
this is not the only case where an instrumental interlude of an opera completely outshone the rest of it in popularity, it also happened with flight of the bumblebee from rimsky-korsakov's tale of tsar saltan
👏👏👏 Marvelous creation you've just made. We definitely need to dive deeper to get more creative. A couple of inspirational words taken from my very first Sunday School teacher in a conversation we just had yesterday 😊 I think your partner in music helps a lot with the improvisation to create new and different content for your videos. I love Opera too and thanks to technology we can watch our favorite plays at any time ❤. Best wishes for you.
Very interesting, thank you! Of course I know this piece, but for some reason when I saw "the violin solo everyone knows" in the title I immediately thought of "Hearts And Flowers" :)
Please do a video on The Devil’s Trill Sonata. It is sorely underrated. The lore behind the piece, and the musical merit of the piece makes it simply an elusive masterpiece.
Thais is one of those pieces that you like when you first start listening, then don't like because it's too obvious or overexposed, then loop back to loving because it's impressive to write so skillfully and directly (and because it's really beautiful). I had no idea the plot of the opera was such a proto-typical incel fantasy 😂
I think the popularity of the piece has more to do with the memorable melody at the beginning than one might think. This melody is meticulously crafted,, not so simple. That high B is a non chordal tone and doesn't resolve as an appogiatura: very beautiful melodic choices, and the harmony is very simple at that point. Then the comments about harmony and modal interchange were great. But I think composers could spend more time analysing melodies
Wonder if Sondheim took the pivotal cadence for Send in The Clowns? Has a similar arc harmonically. It’s a nice piece but i prefer Berg’s violin concerto. 😊
I can’t remember if it was point one or two, but I find I bore quickly of pieces that are far too predictable. I can’t help but rush forward in my mind letting gut instinct predict where a phrase will go. Having the composer artfully play games with the chord progression gives me those nice “oh cool” moments. Love the recent videos!!!
when I hear it I just think of Classic FM ... why it's popular .. I think people think - It's a proper tune and that's how a violin 'sounds'. There are no alarms and no surprises ( most listeners don't care nor know about keys etc. It doesn't challenge the status quo of society . The same reasons why THAT Barber piece is also very popular, if not more so.
As a casual fan of classical music, it absolutely seems like Massenet and the French Romantic gets short shrift. It seems like German composers from this period are elevated as "visionary" in an implied contrast to their "workmanlike" ("crowd-pleasing" ??) French contemporaries. I suppose that we have pre-WWI nationalist mythmaking to thank for that. Yet it seems to me that Massenet, Delibes, etc. were highly innovative in how they convey a person's emotional life with sensitivity, fineness, and precision. Thank you very much for your analysis of this piece.
The first opera I ever saw was Massenet's _Werther_ . Based on that data point, I can understand why people don't remember him for his operas. (Semi-joking; the music was, to my untrained ear, fine. But the libretto was ridiculous.)
It's just like some artificial sweetner to me; wonder why more people don't play a violin piece so much more lyrical and subtle like Paganini's Andante Cantabile as an encore. Originally for violin and Guitar you an find a piano arrangemeny easily. Itzak Perlman recorded it and it' superb.
I barely got into the video but if she doesn't mention this is the piece that plays whenever Helga Pataki fawns over Arnold, I'm gonna riot. Edit: she didn't. My disappointment is immeasurable and now my day is ruined.
Don't know it. Sounds sweet. Must look it up. (I must be a troglodyte, I suppose. Or just an inhabitant of an urban cave who doesn't watch TV. Ich glotz stattdessen TH-cam.) Dig away, anyway. You bring back nice bones from the flower beds. Yes, please, more.
@NahreSol it's the theory that one is given an incentive once in a while to remain employed - someone going for the carrot 🥕 in front of them that's tied to a stick and where the carrot owner moves the stick ever so slightly to remain always reachable to the person pursuing it (despite needing a promotion or a change of companies - this, of course, not applying to music, but!) which translates well in what composers do with music, no? Giving you a little bit at a time to keep you hooked and then: BAM! Comes the release.
Hi Nahre, I really enjoyed your video. My name is Danilo. I've been playing the violin for almost 15 years, as well as the piano for almost 11 years (though not as masterfully as you given I mostly play by ear on the piano).
And the funny thing is I learned this piece when I was a senior in high school six years ago, but I didn't start performing it until I began playing regularly at weddings in South Florida (where I was born and raised) last year.
I fall in that category or people who knows the piece but knows nothing about it. This is a great video. Thank you for giving us the background.
Thank you!!
No need to undercut yourself there at the end. Of course it matters, because it matters to you. And you just made it matter to me!
Never feel shame for feeling passionate about something.
Brilliant video! Thanks so much for sharing your insights.
Thank you!!
Love these breakdowns Nahre! You're such a great communicator and teacher 🙏
Thank you, I appreciate the comment!
I think people love it because it is so incredibly melodic… a passionate melody over a beautiful chord progression.
The "Encore Effect" is such an interesting observation, and I think there is a lot of truth behind it!
Right?!
I've never thought about it, but it really sounds plausible that there's an encore effect that popularises certain pieces. Not only do you hear it more often, it's also the last thing you hear and remember the most!
Thank you for this explanation, it is a beautiful piece and beautifully played by your friend 🙏
Thank you kindly!
What got me is that harmonic shift before the resolution. I'm a sucker for it , all the time. LoL . I realized some of my favorite songs ever tend to do this a lot. Also the ties or slurred expression and just the pacing as you mentioned. I've never heard this before but that's what stood out to me. Love your videos. You are a genius! 👏🙌
I always learn something new from you, young woman. This is just another example of your splendid talent. Thanks.....
Thank you!!
The points raised in this video reminded me of The Swan by Saint-Saens, another beloved encore piece! Thank you for a wonderful video, again, Nahre :) I love Meditation so much.
Cool vid! Had heard it before but never delved deeper. I liked you covering the harmonic subversion by modal interchange and that lengthy section in the V chord. I suspect that tension sitting there made the carthasis even more powerful, hence the emotional impact many felt!
Thank you, I appreciate it!!
I have never been to an opera but would go to one.
☺️
@@NahreSol I have been to ballets and theatrical performances though.
An interesting look at a piece I grew up hearing as part of a local TV station's nightly sign-off. I think I'll check out the opera it's part of too, as long as I can see what's going on and know what they're talking/singing about. The reprise of the Meditation at the end, with the guy singing about the courtesan's redemption sounds intriguing as well. Great work!
Loved this! Thanks so much.
Thank you back!!
When I heard this piece for the first time as a child, I thought it is about some meditating monk in Thailand
How neat!!
Me too. But I thought it was a part of the King and I.... you know?? the Yul Bryner Deborah Kerr movie... Lol. Ignoramus me.
Thank you! I so enjoy and respect your presentations!
I love many "uncool" pieces of music - sometimes it's tricky as they became (Heaven help us!) popular and often overplayed. It's similar in other art forms like film and literature: something that's been heard or seen or talked about too much becomes disrespected. But if you're honest, you have to be willing to give it the credit for becoming so loved in the first place - if its truly a work of art, it will continue to move us and so deserves to be unapologetically embraced!
Hi Nahre! I’m learning this on cello. It is good therapy. 😉 Thanks 🙏🏼
Quite an interesting piece- speaks a lot of the times it came from and emotionally relatable to that portrayal.
Yes very true!! Thank you
At last, thank you. Show-pieces, especially violin show-off pieces, are little more than exercises to impress or intimidate other violinists. They don't always sound good, no matter how expertly played. This is a piece that I play at home. Thank you for your expertise and sensitivity.
Uhh… okaaay…
Once again: a very nice, intelligent and agreeable Ms Nahre Sol! 🤔
I saw the video title and knew it would be about the Meditation. Great music -- like the Meditation, Beethoven 7, Clair de lune etc. -- is great no matter how many times it's played. I can't imagine being jaded enough not to enjoy it. Thank you for the context and analysis.
Bravo for knowing it’s the Meditation!! And thank you!!
this is not the only case where an instrumental interlude of an opera completely outshone the rest of it in popularity, it also happened with flight of the bumblebee from rimsky-korsakov's tale of tsar saltan
your friend plays it well, and lol at the cat at the end!
👏👏👏 Marvelous creation you've just made. We definitely need to dive deeper to get more creative. A couple of inspirational words taken from my very first Sunday School teacher in a conversation we just had yesterday 😊 I think your partner in music helps a lot with the improvisation to create new and different content for your videos. I love Opera too and thanks to technology we can watch our favorite plays at any time ❤. Best wishes for you.
Thank you!!
Very interesting, thank you! Of course I know this piece, but for some reason when I saw "the violin solo everyone knows" in the title I immediately thought of "Hearts And Flowers" :)
Oh interesting! Thank you for commenting :))
I've never been so early before
🙋🏻♀️
Later on, cat filing his nails: "So, worldly pursuits and desires eh?"
😅
Please do a video on The Devil’s Trill Sonata. It is sorely underrated. The lore behind the piece, and the musical merit of the piece makes it simply an elusive masterpiece.
Will keep that in mind!!
Thais is one of those pieces that you like when you first start listening, then don't like because it's too obvious or overexposed, then loop back to loving because it's impressive to write so skillfully and directly (and because it's really beautiful).
I had no idea the plot of the opera was such a proto-typical incel fantasy 😂
Always interesting.
Thank you kindly!!
I think the popularity of the piece has more to do with the memorable melody at the beginning than one might think. This melody is meticulously crafted,, not so simple. That high B is a non chordal tone and doesn't resolve as an appogiatura: very beautiful melodic choices, and the harmony is very simple at that point. Then the comments about harmony and modal interchange were great. But I think composers could spend more time analysing melodies
Yes very true! Thank you for the insights!!
If I had to qualify any piece of "Violin Mona Lisa", it's Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Closer in terms of popularity and time period.
Oh yes, for sure!
So good
😊
Good vid
Isn't D natural minor the same as D Aeolian, not D Dorian? Cmaj triad is the V of D Aeolian parent key while Cmaj7 is the tonic of D Dorian parent key
thanks
Thank you back!!
Accidental wardrobe malfunction attracting publicity. Would never happen theses days.🙂
i dont understand this comment. maybe because i didnt watch the whole video?
Yes... 😅
I love music and your videos...but miss your dogs
Wonder if Sondheim took the pivotal cadence for Send in The Clowns? Has a similar arc harmonically.
It’s a nice piece but i prefer Berg’s violin concerto. 😊
Great insight!
Please do one videos of this style but with gershwin music, I love your Chanel
👌🏻🙂
I can’t remember if it was point one or two, but I find I bore quickly of pieces that are far too predictable. I can’t help but rush forward in my mind letting gut instinct predict where a phrase will go. Having the composer artfully play games with the chord progression gives me those nice “oh cool” moments. Love the recent videos!!!
Thank you!!
Never really thought about how this was the only piece from Massenet I knew.
Listen to the Ah Fuyez
Same!
when I hear it I just think of Classic FM ...
why it's popular .. I think people think - It's a proper tune and that's how a violin 'sounds'. There are no alarms and no surprises ( most listeners don't care nor know about keys etc. It doesn't challenge the status quo of society . The same reasons why THAT Barber piece is also very popular, if not more so.
But that Barber piece is associated with war and suffering via the movie Platoon.
Yes...true!
Consider using a de-esser on your mic.
Will do thank you!!
As a casual fan of classical music, it absolutely seems like Massenet and the French Romantic gets short shrift. It seems like German composers from this period are elevated as "visionary" in an implied contrast to their "workmanlike" ("crowd-pleasing" ??) French contemporaries. I suppose that we have pre-WWI nationalist mythmaking to thank for that. Yet it seems to me that Massenet, Delibes, etc. were highly innovative in how they convey a person's emotional life with sensitivity, fineness, and precision. Thank you very much for your analysis of this piece.
Thank you, and I love your insights!!
How odd. I have been a classical music fan for over 65 years, and long ago, briefly studied the violin. But I have never heard this piece before.
Nice! I was wondering what keyboard behind you on top to your left is, looks like a synth?
Thank you for the valuable insights!
piece name in description?
The first opera I ever saw was Massenet's _Werther_ . Based on that data point, I can understand why people don't remember him for his operas. (Semi-joking; the music was, to my untrained ear, fine. But the libretto was ridiculous.)
It's just like some artificial sweetner to me; wonder why more people don't play a violin piece so much more lyrical and subtle like Paganini's Andante Cantabile as an encore. Originally for violin and Guitar you an find a piano arrangemeny easily. Itzak Perlman recorded it and it' superb.
I like The Swan by Saint Saen, played by Yoyo Ma.
I'm interested. I love your videos and your opinion matters a great deal!! 🤩
Oh, thank you kindly!
mahler adagietto?
So....the insight is that it's from an opera and the insinuation is that nobody knows that?
🫵😵💫🗯️once upon a time…
👙 I tried to listen to this song,… I think I even tried to play it on my guitar once…⁉️
Crowd also likes "River Flows In You", so it's a questionable or even completely inverted criterion...
Surprisingly good baritone. Who is it?
oooo
🙂
I barely got into the video but if she doesn't mention this is the piece that plays whenever Helga Pataki fawns over Arnold, I'm gonna riot.
Edit: she didn't. My disappointment is immeasurable and now my day is ruined.
😅 Hey Arnold was legendary…
Don't know it. Sounds sweet. Must look it up. (I must be a troglodyte, I suppose. Or just an inhabitant of an urban cave who doesn't watch TV. Ich glotz stattdessen TH-cam.)
Dig away, anyway. You bring back nice bones from the flower beds. Yes, please, more.
Is that Depp?
😅
🙋🏼♂️
Hello! ☺️
Musicians using the "carrot 🥕 and the stick" technique, just like corporations. 😁😅😬🙂👍🏻
Carrot and stick? Tell me more 😅
@NahreSol it's the theory that one is given an incentive once in a while to remain employed - someone going for the carrot 🥕 in front of them that's tied to a stick and where the carrot owner moves the stick ever so slightly to remain always reachable to the person pursuing it (despite needing a promotion or a change of companies - this, of course, not applying to music, but!) which translates well in what composers do with music, no? Giving you a little bit at a time to keep you hooked and then: BAM! Comes the release.
I always heard this piece played in funerals. Is kinda tacky for me. I'm giving this harmony a try anyway.
you could play it first so we know what we are talking about
First
🙋🏻♀️
Hi Nahre, I really enjoyed your video. My name is Danilo. I've been playing the violin for almost 15 years, as well as the piano for almost 11 years (though not as masterfully as you given I mostly play by ear on the piano).
I also studied arranging, music production, conducting, and composition during the past 10 years (mainly during my years in high school and college).
And the funny thing is I learned this piece when I was a senior in high school six years ago, but I didn't start performing it until I began playing regularly at weddings in South Florida (where I was born and raised) last year.
Hm
🙂
Ugh not my favourite at all - too drippingly saccharined. I much prefer the Franck violin sonata, from a few years earlier.
I never liked this piece.
Fair!