IMA Web

By Teddy Abrams
IMA Web Senior Editor

Different composers compose music in different ways. Some composers, such as Bach, Mozart, and Mendelssohn, could compose music completely away from a piano because all of the music was arranged in their heads. There is a story of Mendelssohn being able to have complete conversations about politics, economics, and other topics while writing down his compositions. This is because his whole composition was organized in his mind and writing it down was simply transferring the music from his brain to paper.

Other composers prefer to compose at the piano. Beethoven, Copland, and Stravinsky would all compose music by trying many of their ideas at a keyboard first. Stravinsky would often write his orchestral pieces just for piano, and then decide which instruments played what parts at a later date.

Ideas come for composers from many different sources. Some composers, particularly those before the 1850s, would often write music inspired just by life and emotions, but not based o­n other art or culture. Mozart's symphonies and Haydn's piano sonatas are examples of music that is composed to express feelings, but is not based o­n another work of art such as a poem or a story. This kind of music is called "absolute music." Other composers (often from the Romantic period and later) find inspiration from paintings, poetry, legends, dreams, and other aspects of life that cause them to write music that describes these experiences. This music is often called "program music."

Composers often draw o­n real-world sounds as sources for their compositions. Messiaen would record actual bird calls from around the world and include these calls in his compositions by transcribing them for individual instruments. Bartok and Kodaly (both Hungarian composers) would travel to obscure Hungarian villages to record and study the traditional music there. There experiences in these villages would greatly influence their compositions and composing style. o­ne time, Brahms' close friend Clara Schumann (Robert Schumann's wife) sent him a piece of paper with a tune that she had heard played by an Alphorn (used by shepherds in the European Alps). Brahms included this tune in his First Symphony, played by the horn.

Sometimes composers are influenced by other composers' works. These often express themselves in the form of "Theme and Variations." This occurs when a composers takes a theme (usually by another composer) and creates a cycle of changes, additions, and added intricacies to the original theme. This was especially popular during the Classical and Romantic periods.

As you can see, the differences in composers' styles and the wide range of influences for composers are very great. However, in the end, the whole point of composition is simply to communicate with the people playing and listening to the music.