It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly at the end of the academic year, and while that is a relief in many ways, it means that we have to confront the beast once more: finals. It’s time to scream at yourself for not having taken better notes in class, fire up the ol’ L&L database, and get to work.
And so, I have compiled an ever-so-carefully curated playlist of classical music to accompany you through your final crucible of the 2020/2021 academic season. Throw on those noise-cancelling headphones to block out the sound of screaming neighbours, and let’s begin.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Sonata No. 18 in G Major (K 301)
Ah, G Major! Composers of the Baroque era equated this key with sunshine and warmth, which seems appropriate given the beautiful weather we’ve been having here in Toronto. In fact, the weather has been so lovely that it’s almost whittled away the resentment that my Vancouver-born heart is statutorily required to bear against this fine city—almost.
Mozart wrote this sonata when he was only 22 years old. Isn’t that annoying? Mozart, so we’ve been told, makes babies smarter! Although after a year of law school, I’m wondering if that’s just mere puffery.
Ann Southam: Webster’s Spin
It’s been a few days of studying now. Every time you think you’re getting a grasp on the Rule in Shelley’s Case, it seems to get away from you (and who the heck is Shelley!?). These feelings are
captured in convincing fashion in Ann Southam’s “Webster’s Spin.”
This work by Southam, a Canadian composer who spent most of her life in Toronto, is written for string orchestra and is the musical equivalent of white noise. I can tell you, it’s about as pleasant to play as it is to listen to, but if you’re trying to tune out the sounds of traffic while you’re studying, this will definitely do the trick.
Claude Debussy: Beau Soir
Hard work and honest effort is all that will get you through finals season, but all that means nothing if you don’t have the energy to make it through that six hour take-home exam. The internet is overflowing with applications to help your mind slow down enough to have a good night’s rest, but I submit that there’s nothing more relaxing than Debussy on repeat. Try his setting of Paul Bourget’s poem, “Beau Soir,” and you’ll be out like a light. If an operatic voice with vibrato you can drive a truck through isn’t quite your thing, try one of the many instrumental arrangements of this quintessentially impressionistic art song.
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Today’s the day! Your summary is printed out and bound in a gleaming new binder, you’ve gotten a good night’s sleep, and Examplify doesn’t seem to be glitching for once—you’re ready. In the final five minutes before you walk the scaffolds and click “Begin,” turn on this joyous, post-minimalistic fanfare to get yourself in the zone. If this piece doesn’t make you love woodblock, I don’t know what will.
Ottorino Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano
And we’re there—it’s been a tough year, to say the least. After a year of online law school it would be nice to leave the province and go on that Italian vacation that we’ve been pining after ever since COVID hit. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a viable possibility for a while, but Respighi, who perhaps has the best first name I’ve ever heard of, specializes in programmatic Italian music. Programmatic music is a form of composition that is meant to conjure up a particular image or story in the mind of the listener. Programmatic music is in contrast to absolute music, compositions such as the Mozart sonata above which are meant simply to exist, not to convey a particular meaning as intended by the composer.
“Trittico Botticelliano” is written in three movements, each based upon a different painting of Sandro Botticelli: La Primavera (“Spring”), L’Adorazione dei Magi (“The Adoration of the Magi”), and La Nascita di Venere (“The Birth of Venus”). It’s unlikely that Resphigi’s work is a fully adequate substitute for eating pizza on the Spanish Steps, but with a decent bottle of rosé and some Dominos it might just be able to tide you over until we’re able to travel again.
Best of luck on examinations, and I hope this little playlist of classical music can help make the season more bearable. Until next year: toi, toi, toi!