ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Famous Chamber Music Compositions

Updated on August 30, 2012
Source

Famous Chamber Music

Note: you’ll find a ‘youtube’ link below every composition discussed. If not, it’s because I wasn’t able to find a ‘youtube’ performance of the piece...

Famous chamber music compositions - there are not as many famous chamber music compositions as there are orchestral or piano solo music compositions. Chamber music is much more personal and exclusive than orchestral or piano solo and requires much more patience, as well as a some degree of understanding from the listener...

What is chamber music? Chamber music originated in the 16th/17th centuries. Before the romantics showed up on the scene, most compositions could have been arguably dubbed 'chamber pieces', because, orchestras were quite small - 18 players was a good size orchestra before Beethoven and Weber came into the scene...so, before the beginning of the 19th century, small ensembles were the norm....

Here’s a list of some very famous chamber music pieces...

Mendelssohn - Octet for Strings
As the name of the piece implies, 8 performers are needed: 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos. Mendelssohn wrote this lovely work at the tender age of 16 - up until this day, no composer has surpassed him in writing a composition as innovative as this one is and at such a young age at that. Mozart didn’t write anything musically as structured as this piece is until he was 19 years old, which would have made him 3 years older than Mendelssohn was when he wrote the octet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZc8e4gUWQ

Cesar Franck - Sonata for Violin
This is one of the most harmonically innovative chamber music piece ever written. However, unlike Mendelssohn, Franck was in his twilight years when he wrote this piece. (60’s, although today they say 90 is the new 60, however, not when Franck was around 150 years ago...) One of the funniest stories (sarcastically speaking) told is Franck’s attitude when he finally got a hit for the first at the ripe old age of 68, proceeded by an even bigger hit - an omnibus ran him over and he eventually died from complications of the accident a few days later... Franck is one of music’s quintessential geniuses, however, his music was not recognize at all during his lifetime, and he had to support himself by teaching and playing the organ, which he was quite good at... This is one of the most beautiful sonatas ever written for the violin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bTjkPDSJI

Schubert - Trout Quintet
Another top hit by the other wonder boy, Schubert. Schubert died 2 months before his 31st birthday, which makes him one of music’s greatest prodigies alongside Mozart and Mendelssohn... This piece is quite famous, and like 99% of Schubert’s music, entertaining to listen to as well... Schubert was 22 years old when he wrote this composition for piano and string quartet (Piano solo, 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello = 5).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlxVTpEyMEw

Tchaikovsky - Waltz from Serenade for Strings
One of the most famous chamber pieces ever written. A must for any beginner to the world of classical music (late Romantic actually). Tchaikovsky wrote this piece at the same time he wrote the ‘1812 Overture’ and preferred it by saying that the overture was too loud and rambunctious, whereas the serenade was mellow and serene. (get it serenade)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SvnT6oVzE

Borodin - String Quartet No. 2 "Nocturne"
The problem I have with the music of Borodin is that you don’t know when he stops and Korsakov, and the other members of the Russian Five start?... Borodin was a scientist, and music came second to him, so he left many unfinished compositions which would be taken up and eventually finished by members of his group known as ‘The Russian Five’. All said, the slow movement of this work is very beautiful...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsbbOXWCGF8

Smetana - String Quartet No. 1 “From My Life”
One of the most personal compositions ever written (as it’s typical of chamber music to oftentimes be more personal than other types of music). The beginning of the first movement has a viola solo which Smetana said was the melody he kept on hearing just before he went mad and was sent to an asylum to die there (syphilis)... Smetana wrote this sad and dramatic composition around the time he lost his daughter and wife...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXFS_nO0W7M

Barber - Adagio for Strings
One of the saddest compositions ever written. A must for beginners to the world of classical music...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g

Dvorak - String Quartet No. 12 “American”
Dvorak was one of the most normal and down to earth individuals that has ever lived, so wonder that he was such a great genius?... Nevertheless, Dvorak was also one of the most successful composers that has ever lived - a composer that managed to get world wide respect, while at the same time making an exuberant amount of money...unheard of for his day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmZX5BmAHYs

Final Thoughts:

There are many other wonderful chamber music compositions which I did not mentioned in this article. Myself, I’m not very familiar with chamber music; the symphony is my favorite musical genre of all, and, piano solo music, because, I play the piano myself. Nevertheless, these are some of the most famous chamber music pieces ever composed... (Barber's 'Adagio for Strings', lovely as it is, has virtually become a cliché of classical music)


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)