A Collection of nostalgic pieces for Guitar. Easy to Advanced Level
1.
Beethoven - Fur Elise
An enigmatic bagatelle in A minor that is one of the composer's best-known compositions. The original manuscript is inscribed "Für Elise" ("For Elise"), hence the nickname. However, recent scholars have suggested that it actually read "For Therese"—Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza. A friend and student of the composer, he supposedly proposed to her in 1810, though she turned him down, instead marrying the Austrian nobleman Wilhelm von Droßdik.
"Danny Boy" is a popular ballad written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly and usually set to the Irish tune of the "Londonderry Air". It is most closely associated with Irish communities even though Weatherly himself never set foot in Ireland. The words convey the melancholy of parting:
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer's gone, and all the roses falling, It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.
The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50 was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré's version for orchestra and optional chorus. It was first performed in Paris in 1888, becoming one of the his most popular works. It was used by the BBC for the title music of its coverage of the 1998 World Cup.
The pavan was a sixteenth- and seventeenth-century court dance of Italian origin, in duple meter, and stately in tempo and spirit.
"The Planets" is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst. The work is astrological rather than astronomical (which is why Earth is not included), each movement intending to convey ideas and emotions associated with the influence of the planets on the psyche, not the Roman deities. The slow section of the fourth movement "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" is a depiction of the noble and generous traits of those born under Jupiter. The use of the melody for the British hymn "I Vow to Thee, My Country" means it is also often mistakenly heard as being solemnly patriotic.
Chopins three Nocturnes, Op. 9 were written between 1830 and 1832 and dedicated to Madame Camille Pleyel. Despite being forever associated with the nocturne (essentially a piece of particularly wistful, dreamy music, often intended to evoke images of the night), the form was actually created by the Irish composer John Field, a man whose influence on Chopin can be heard clearly, not just in his solo piano music but also in his two piano concertos. The wistful second nocturne, with its finely crafted melody is particularly loved— it has been, for example, a constant fixture in the UK's Classic FM Hall of Fame since its inception in 1996 and also appeared in a number of movies, including "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), "Close to Eden" (1992) and "Bad Santa" (2003).
Satie's "Gymnopedies" for solo piano (completed 1888) are probably his most famous pieces. They impressed many with their combination of startling sparseness and powerfully direct emotional impact—Debussy, indeed, so admired them that he orchestrated several of them. The first of the "Gymnopedies" is, perhaps the most well-known, appearing countless times in popular culture: in the BBC's "The World at War," the documentary "Man on Wire," Woody Allen's "Another Woman" and in versions by popular musicians including Sky, Gary Numan and Janet Jackson.
