Musicians! Please help me with a music suggestion for my video slide show on Rembrandt!

[CTyankee]

He lived from 1606-1669 and was very prolific. My slide shows usually last approximately 4-5 minutes. I have searched pieces by Massenet (Meditation), Vivaldi, Handel, Corelli, Scarlatti, and Pachelbel.

I do many detail shots that photographers have captured so there are some very close, tender moments of the sweetness the artist could capture, in addition to the larger tableaux, which I want to minimize.

I have great tender feeling for this artist as I actually was in his house and the room where he painted when I went to Amsterdam. I came away feeling a great affinity for him.

My hope is a cello piece since that instrument, to me, fits this artist very well.

Any guidance you can give me is welcome!

[rsdsharp]

1. No musician, but one of Bach's cello suites might work.

For example:

https://m.

Bach was born a few years after Rembrandt’s death so he’s not far from being a contemporary.

[CTyankee]

3. I did consider this piece (hubby was a classical cellist once)!

But I am leaning more toward a melodious piece. Rembrandt has such a haunting presence in art and I thought it would be relatively simple search but alas!

I have considered the Meditation from Thais by Massenet but I don't want the video to get bogged down in somberness.

This is hard!

[brush]

2. I too am a fan of Rembrandt...also Hals and Vermeer.

I would love to see your videos on Rembrandt and other Dutch and Italian masters like Caravaggio.

[CTyankee]

6. Here is a video I put on youtube (hope it is still there)

[CTyankee]

12. I haven't started the Rembrandt and only used the Vermeer once. It was posted to YouTube.

Here is the link:

Click on the youtube option to play. Hopefully it will play.

Vermeer is the last image. I found it haunting...

[Mousetoescamper]

4. You might find something that suits in this collection.

[Donkees]

5. The Rembrandt Symphony was written in 1906 as part of a general Dutch celebration ...

Cornelis Dopper (1870-1939), a Dutch composer, made his conducting reputation at the Concertgebouw Orchestra as the second conductor under Mengelberg. He received the invitation after he conducted his Third Symphony, Rembrandt, at the Concertgebouw. The Rembrandt Symphony was written in 1906 as part of a general Dutch celebration of the birth of Rembrandt. The Concertgebouw Orchestra commissioned several renowned Dutch composers to create music for the anniversary and Dopper’s work was part of that celebration.

https://interlude.hk/music-art-rembrandt/

Cornelis Dopper - Cello Concerto (1910)

[CTyankee]

7. Thanks for these! This has been helpful to me!

[Ocelot II]

8. I'd recommend music of the period and the region.

It always grates on me a little when I watch biographies of historical people and the music is wrong (I majored in music so maybe I'm a bit of a pedant). So, for Rembrandt I'd go with composers of the middle Baroque era from northern Europe - not necessarily the Netherlands, but maybe Germany (not Bach; he's too late, 1685 – 1750). Buxtehude, who was Danish but worked in Germany, would be a good choice. Here's a sonata for viola da gamba (early cello).

Or Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), probably Germany's greatest composer before Bach and one of my all-time favorites. A lot of his music is vocal/choral, for this beautiful example:

The cello wasn't really much of a solo instrument until Bach's time, but here's an instrumental piece:

Hope this helps.

[CTyankee]

10. VERY helpful!

My husband started out in college as a cello major in music at the University of Wisconsin. We still have his cello! He has a very helpful Musical History Map that shows a timeline of composers, with overlaps, that I found and have been using.

I feel as you do about using the right music behind my slide shows. In one I used the music of Ennio Morricone, an Italian composer who wrote music for Sergio Leoni (of spaghetti western fame!) behind my first show of what I call The Beauty Project. I used artwork from different artists, the subject being one of Aesthetics, of what I found beautiful. I got feedback from the art department of my alma mater that was negative and confusing. This led me to believe that it was better to stick to one era at a time.

I had been to Amsterdam and stood in Rembrandt's top floor studio. I was awe struck and have wanted to do something on his art ever since. Hence, this Beauty Project!

My next project will be focused on works by Monet and other Impressionists. I will be visiting Giverney on the day it opens in early April and I am thrilled! Have you been there? My granddaughter will be with me and in her I have inspired an interest in Matisse (well, really fauvism, but never mind). We're going to see the smiling angels sculpture in Rheims first!

[CTyankee]

13. I like this: Largo from Xerxes by Handel.

[Ocelot II]

14. It's a lovely piece but, pedantically speaking, it's of a later period (1738).

[CTyankee]

15. I know, but if you encountered a series of images by Rembrandt would this piece bother you while

you watched?

[Ocelot II]

16. A little, but that's because I'm pedantic about such things.

I would think, "Why didn't they use music Rembrandt himself might have heard? There are plenty of recordings of music of his period." But Largo is lovely and it wouldn't bother anyone but pedantic types like me.

[CTyankee]

17. check out this website on Rembrandt. They employed Scarlotti and Locatello

http://ceit.liu.edu/Rembrandt/music.htm

they kindly explain...

[CTyankee]

18. Honestly, the music being written and played during Rembrandt's life just sounds strange and very

divorced from my idea of Rembrandt's world, according to what I glean from viewing his works. It doesn't rhyme. IIRC, Scarlatti was one. I just didn't like the pieces I played. I don't know why the Largo sounds so "in sync" with Rembrandt's works and I know it's my conceit that is at work here.

Well, thanks for taking the time to discuss this with me. I have enjoyed the experience and discussing it with someone who has so much fine advice.

I'll put the Rembrandt video I make up on YouTube and give DUers the link. I will appreciate your reaction to the finished product!

[Ocelot II]

19. The important thing is that the music works with your vision of your project.

I'm just glad it's relatively close to the period; it certainly won't clash at all. I'm looking forward to seeing the video!

[CTyankee]

20. Well, yes, except for people such as you who I would certainly listen to, would not enjoy it as much

I don't want to ruin the effect for the knowledgeable folks. It kind of negates what I want do, my stated aim of wanting people to love art and have the joy I experience with it.

[Ocelot II]

21. I think we pedants can put our pedantry aside and just enjoy the video.

I'm sure it will be excellent, and a background accompaniment of Handel's music will not be distracting at all. I love Handel.

[CTyankee]

22. I think Vivaldi might be a better choice here because he WAS a contemporary of Rembrandt...

Not La Primavera as it is probably too common. L'hiver sounds a bit too jumpy (nice but not the flow I have in mind).

My slide show producer and I will meet on Monday to review this project and we'll see then how this all can work.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Ocelot II]

23. Putting on my pedant hat again...

Vivaldi was born in 1678 which was after Rembrandt had died, so he wasn't really his contemporary. Most of Vivaldi's music is "kind of jumpy" since that's the high Baroque style, though you might be able to find some slow harpsichord pieces that would work. But I get a darker vibe from Rembrandt, can't imagine Vivaldi as an accompaniment to "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp," for example.

[CTyankee]

24. I had not planned on showing that anatomy lesson altho I will take another look.

I am fascinated by his works that ennoble Saskia and those of himself through the decades. But the one on the Sea of Galilee fascinates me (maybe because of it's yet unsolved theft). But these are more preliminary thoughts. In one of my earlier slide show I did use "Return of the Prodigal Son" which is my inspiration for the entire thing. The humanity of it just floors me -- I am quite undone just looking at it.
It is nothing new to me as I bawled openly at Van Gogh's "Wheatfield with Crows" on one of my trips to Amsterdam. It's just how it goes...

I don't know how I didn't know Vivaldi was later, but thank you for telling me.

I don't know anything about the music of Lully, but my handy chart lists him within the confines of Rembrandt's time. If you have info that you can impart to me, I would be so grateful...but I am aware of not being too instrusive on your time...

[Ocelot II]

25. I love Lully and the French Baroque, also including Charpentier and Rameau.

There's an interesting story about Lully: In those days conductors sometimes kept time for their ensembles by tapping a long staff on the floor instead of waving a baton as they do now. Lully was conducting a performance of one of his works when he accidentally jabbed his own foot with the staff. The wound became infected and gangrenous, but he refused to have it amputated because that would prevent him from dancing. So the infection spread and he died. His style is what might be called Middle Baroque, and he wrote a lot of operas, ballets and theatre music for Louis XIV at Versailles. Here are some examples:

[CTyankee]

30. My focus is shifting, more to the lively and playful images he painted so my thoughts drifted to

music for dances of his era. I found a collection here

&t=147s. And if you look hard enough, some are cute (charming putti flying away from a scene).

[Ocelot II]

31. This music is perfect! It's exactly of the same period, and if you can find

some dance music, it would be great for your presentation. Check out Michael Praetorius:

[yonder]

9. Similar to what post #8 suggests, why not consider the folk/peoples' music of his place and time?

Instead of limiting it to just art/classical music, how about the tunes he may have heard in the public square, the pubs, around the fireplace or the crossroads?

[CTyankee]

11. Good idea! I'll formulate a google search around just that. Thank you!

[DFW]

26. This might not quite fit your bill, but............

Then again, you never know.......

or this

[CTyankee]

27. The Bach piece is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, it is about a hundred years after Rembrandt

died.

[DFW]

28. Oops.

Minor detail!

[CTyankee]

29. Yeah, I know. I did the same thing. Yet I STILL like a Handel piece for cello that just haunts me

and makes me think "It SHOULD fit."