What ALL GREAT Composers Had in Common

And also when you play a piece: don't think too much about music. Think of a wonderful scenario, a romance on the beach, a wonderful dinner, or a stunning landscape. Your fingers will perfectly do the rest!

It's so simple: when you compose a piece, don't think about notes or music theory. Just have a wonderful scenario in your mind, like a great movie, and already it works! After that the theory is at least useful to make a few corrections, and that's all.
Love from Hannes, Germany

While masterful crystallization of emotion is certainly common among great compositions, it feels like a bit too subjective of a characterization. I would argue that if Mozart and Beethoven had implemented their respective pieces with modifications you offer, they would still be considered great.

Hearing that Fantasie immediately triggered memories from my childhood and shortly followed the all too familiar feeling of regret for not having taken my piano playing more seriously earlier in my life. Seems on par with the emotion Mozart's crystallizes in that piece 😄

I'm sure someone has told you of 'Karl Haas' - aka: "Adventures in Good Music" on public radio, years ago. In this video you remind me of his teaching style. There is no limit to the many topics one can come up with to interpret music. Karl Haas is a prime example of music appreciation, style and interpretation. I enjoyed your video. JB 🧑🏻

Emotion fire power and skill with experience . From the most prolific composer in world currently

1. All great composers use the flow state to make their masterpieces. 2. They´d all have loved Dragonball Z. 3. They´d all have hated Frieza. 4. They´d all have refused to touch the Death Note (did you notice how that guy never wrote any music piece?). 5. They all understood how time works - enabling themselves to be ahead of the game. 6. They did not care what anybody else thinks, including other great composers. 7. The put themselves into the shoes of their audience rather than taking their audience for granted. 8. They understood the atmosphere of the times they were in. They are all immortal now. Thanks for your video! Best wishes from Ásgeir in Iceland who loves your channel!

This is great

I thought the most obvious answer would be - They are all men. Unsurprising as women in Europe were shut out from the profession of music making until fairly recently..
The classical music scene i particular has always been full of conservative attitudes. The London Symphony Orchestra hired its first woman in 1975 (although they used female harpists previous to that but not as full members), Berlin Philharmonic in 1982. Vienna Philharmonic only lifted its ban on women in 1996 when threatened with government budget cuts.
In a blind audition experiment it was shown that women scored significantly higher when their identities are hidden, accounting for underrepresentation in orchestras to this day.

Wow!

What emotion is there in the piece of music? Anything specific? I think you can project emotions onto music, but I don't think music has any naturally. You should read Edvard Hanslick. What do all composers have in common? Their personality. Even bad pieces by classical composers (or can there be such a thing?) have their personality indelibly etched into their compositions. Crystallization is really about the polishing and chipping away -- what you were doing. That is not so much art but kraft. Art is the initial idea no matter how rough, that was given to you by inspiration or the muse. That idea has to be polished and perfected through artisans who know their kraft.

Thank you for your lessons!! You are a very good teacher.

Una pregunta, ¿Donde compra las partituras?
Tengo mucho queriendo tenerlas para poder leer operas

I think in terms of little snippets of "musical DNA" (some educational editions give examples). These are typically very small melodic fragments, chord progressions, rhythms, a predilection for certain intervals or modes that bind the whole. An example is Rachmaninov's Second Concerto where the seemingly perfunctory tail to the opening plagal "bells" - Ab F G - recurs constantly throughout in various forms. Writing this way is a bit like making a virtue of having a bee in your bonnet. Quite often even a studied listener isn't aware of every use of the "DNA" - even the most transformed versions of it just seem to fit. Part art, part craft.

Your videos are really inspiring to me. Thanks.

Fantastic insights. 1,000% agree that music that moves the heart, mind, or body cannot be made from an entirely theoretical standpoint. Theory is super helpful in enhancing what a creator already has pouring out of them, or at times providing a keystone or grounding point. But ultimately a great composition weaves an emotional web that draws the listener into its center and then along the strands to a cathartic finish.

great, simply great. you make so easy to love, understand and follow the greatest of all times

It's funny. I just listened to Coldplay, I adore Chris Martin, The band, and everything about Coldplay, they really make me feel, great, emotional, and I don't know, just so great! :-) However I just can't quite put a finger on it, classical "instrumental" music, makes me think about, well, I don't know really, a story, a narrative, a story, it's like, it tells itself, but how can it be ? Like lyrical poems, only in tones/rhytm/harmony, how can this be ? How can we be so moved only by melody/rhytm/harmony - like, this is the only thing, telling, a moving story - I'm a musicology student & composer, trying to figure out the meaning of why songs with lyrics (usually ostinatos) & classical music (instrumental free form/sonata form/etc.) - how it's even possible to give the listener an experience of "a story", if you know what I mean ?

❤

As a chemist and a musician I must say that I really enjoyed this concept and your explanation. :)

As a German, I have to mention that the stress in the pronounciation of "Verlag" lies very much on the 2nd syllable, so it's "H'enle Ver'la:g". ;)

Great Tips. What do you think of Mozart?

I really enjoyed this video-keep them coming. Thank you.

Holy friggin Bärenreiter

It’s all about feeling.

Brilliant! Love your work!

Now sharps # were harmed doing this video .

Being male?

I am sorry, Nahre, but this video was just not up to par with your other videos. You chose a topic (greatness) that is quite subjective and personal. One listener's great composer is another's mediocre one. Sorry. I did not learn anything new in this video.

Very interesting content! It might be a nonstarter, but can you talk to some mathematician and see if there is really distinct pattern between works from some of the greats and randomly picked score?

Yea idk if you need another term like "crystallization," we might as well say that great composers were just great at... composing. After all the word compose "com" + "pose" literally means "to put together." However, this video is a fantastic explanation of how composition got its name; it really is about getting all the little details to work together!

Hilarious 😂🎉

yes, sting my...

AMAZING video..! Great explanations and examples. I like the way you create images from musical examples! Awesome tips about performance styles ❤️

As a self taught composer I watch videos like this most of the time.

thanks again enjoyed your initial joke

I thought the actual answer was going to be trauma... Mozart and Beethoven had very overbearing fathers and Bach lost both his parents by like 10

Indeed: when music almost turns into words, you know there's magic. It touches you beyond repair.

So you can play the music different without making any mistakes. So what do you make of that there are no recordings of how the original performances sounded?

I think the word "develop" should used rather than "crystalize"...

I understand what you are trying to accomplish here but these are all well-established scores that everyone has heard before.
Would your analysis still hold if these scores had originally been written with the changes you suggest?
Furthermore, you talk about "great composers" but you are speaking about the "classic" great composers, what about more current composers?
More importantly what about commercial composers?
People that convey the emotion of wanting to eat a juicy hamburger, or buy leakproof diapers in less than thirty seconds?
Aren't these people really the great composers in that they drive into emotion in thirty to sixty seconds and do it on a regular basis?
The "classic composers" (those that Western civilization considers great) were certainly masters, but that mastery didn't end with them and is not limited to only their music.

You have that something which is in common to them. And you're a great music researcher.

Hell, yes! Let's dig deeper! Your videos are always amazing. So interesting. I (a musician) watch them often with my wife (a music afficionada - listens to music with the score in her lap, for instance). Your videos are accessible and totally enjoyable to both of us.

Great Video!

Bach never mentioned that his music should be played in that dry wood style, I don't understand why all pianists play Bach that way. Wilhelm kempff sometimes played Bach in the style of the first fragment, I always like that slightly more romantic interpretation.

What tablet do you think would be best to purchase? Or which one do you use?

으으 근데 들어보니까 너무나 뻔한 얘기였군요ㅠㅠ
재생시간도 딱 십분 넘기고… 역시 잘하는 유투버도 언젠가 그냥 존벌에 빠지게 돼 있나 봐요ㅠ

I dunno… I’d say they were pretty nice composers, if you’re into that… “great” is a bit of a stretch and depends on taste. The big names were/are popular because they appeal to wider audiences, but that’s all subjective.

The phenomena she's trying to explain is more of a force of nature than any particular skill set great composers have in common.