The Piano Guys is an American musical group consisting of pianist Jon Schmidt, cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, videographer Paul Anderson, and music producer Al van der Beek. Originating in Utah, they gained popularity through YouTube, where in 2011 they began posting piano and cello compositions combining classical, pop, film score and original music, showcased through elaborate or cinematic videos. As of March 2020 the group had surpassed 2 billion views on their YouTube channel and had 6.7 million subscribers.[3][4] Their first eight major-label studio albums, The Piano Guys, The Piano Guys 2, A Family Christmas, Wonders, Uncharted, Christmas Together, Limitless, and 10, each reached number one on Billboard Classical Albums or New Age Albums charts.[5][6][7]
"Michael Meets Mozart" (2011) gained a respectable showing after Schmidt invited the people on his fan mailing list "to watch it and share it".[12] In June 2011 the group won the "Most Up-and-Coming Channel" award in the YouTube "On the Rise" contest, which brought 25,000 new subscribers to their channel.[13] In 2011 and 2012 the group uploaded a new music video every week to two weeks, attracting thousands of new viewers each time.[13] Meanwhile, their focus of selling pianos shifted to solely making music videos and they decided to close the piano store,[15] which closed in March 2012.[9]
all of me jon schmidt sheet music pdf 29
By September 2012, The Piano Guys had uploaded more than 30 music videos which had garnered 134 million views, and had 757,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel.[14] That month, facilitated by David Simoné and DSW Management, they signed with Sony Masterworks.[14][9] After signing, they released their first album, The Piano Guys, which sold gold, followed by The Piano Guys 2 and A Family Christmas in 2013, and Wonders in 2014, which debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200 chart.[16] A fifth album, Uncharted, was released in 2016, followed by a second Christmas album, Christmas Together, the following year.[17] Their seventh major-label album, Limitless, was released in November 2018 on Portrait/Sony Music Masterworks.[18] A new album entitled "10" was released on November 20, 2020, as a celebration of their 10-year anniversary, and of their 10th album so far.
The Piano Guys draw on a variety of classical, pop, film score and original music in their compositions for piano and cello.[19][20] They are especially well known for their mashups of classical and contemporary songs, such as blending Mozart and Adele, Liszt and Coldplay, Tchaikovsky and Shawn Mendes, Bach and Michael Jackson, or Vivaldi's "Winter" and Disney's "Let It Go".[9]
The group's YouTube videos show the musicians performing in a variety of settings. These include locations in the Utah desert, at the edge of a 1,000-foot cliff, atop a speeding train, in an ice cave, and at Iguazu Falls, among others.[9] Anderson's goal was "to put pianos and cellos in places nobody would ever expect to see them", thereby generating marketing buzz for his store.[23] In the videos, Schmidt is seen playing a variety of Yamaha grand and baby grand pianos,[11] while Nelson plays custom acoustic and electric cello. They plan to film music videos at each of the New Seven Wonders of the World.[9] As of November 2018, they had performed in front of or on top of four. Videos at the Great Wall of China ("Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends"),[9][24] the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro ("The Mission/How Great Thou Art"),[9][24] Chichen Itza ("The Jungle Book/Sarabande"),[25] and Petra ("Indiana Jones and the Arabian Nights")[26] have been completed.
While many other musical groups declined invitations to perform[33] at the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017, the group performed, including a cover of Rachel Platten's Fight Song,[34] which had been played at almost every one of opponent Hillary Clinton's campaign events.[35] The group denied that their performance was "an endorsement or a political statement."[36][37][38]
The love of Beethoven's music is now becomeso universal in England, that I make no doubt hisLetters will receive a hearty welcome from all thosewhose spirits have been elevated and soothed bythe genius of this illustrious man.
In accompanying the present edition of the Lettersof Ludwig van Beethoven with a few introductoryremarks, I at once acknowledge that thecompilation of these letters has cost me no slightsacrifices. I must also, however, mention that anunexpected Christmas donation, generously bestowedon me with a view to further my efforts topromote the science of music, enabled me to undertakeone of the journeys necessary for my purpose,and also to complete the revision of the Lettersand of the press, in the milder air and repose of acountry residence, long since recommended to mefor the restoration of my health, undermined byoverwork.
And now, what is this spirit which, for an intelligentmind, binds together these scattered fragmentsinto a whole, and what is its actual power?I cannot tell; but I feel to this day just as I feltto the innermost depths of my heart in the daysof my youth when I first heard a symphony ofBeethoven's,--that a spirit breathes from it bearingus aloft with giant power out of the oppressiveatmosphere of sense, stirring to its inmost recessesthe heart of man, bringing him to the full consciousnessof his loftier being, and of the undying withinhim. And even more distinctly than when a newworld was thus disclosed to his youthful feelings isthe man fully conscious that not only was this anew world to him, but a new world of feeling initself, revealing to the spirit phases of its own,which, till Beethoven appeared, had never beforebeen fathomed. Call it by what name you will,when one of the great works of the sublime masteris heard, whether indicative of proud self-consciousness,freedom, spring, love, storm, or battle, itgrasps the soul with singular force, and enlargesthe laboring breast. Whether a man understandsmusic or not, every one who has a heart beatingwithin his breast will feel with enchantment thathere is concentrated the utmost promised to us bythe most imaginative of our poets, in bright visionsof happiness and freedom. Even the only greathero of action, who in those memorable days isworthy to stand beside the great master of harmony,having diffused among mankind new andpriceless earthly treasures, sinks in the scale whenwe compare these with the celestial treasures of apurified and deeper feeling, and a more free, enlarged,and sublime view of the world, strugglinggradually and distinctly upwards out of the merefrivolity of an art devoid of words to express itself,and impressing its stamp on the spirit of the age.They convey, too, the knowledge of this brightestvictory of genuine German intellect to those forwhom the sweet Muse of Music is as a book withseven seals, and reveal, likewise, a more profoundsense of Beethoven's being to many who already,through the sweet tones they have imbibed, enjoysome dawning conviction of the master's grandeur,and who now more and more eagerly lend a listeningear to the intellectual clearly worded strains soskilfully interwoven, thus soon to arrive at the fulland blissful comprehension of those grand outpouringsof the spirit, and finally to add another brightdelight to the enjoyment of those who alreadyknow and love Beethoven. All these may be regardedas the objects I had in view when I undertookto edit his Letters, which have also bestowedon myself the best recompense of my labors, in thehumble conviction that by this means I may havevividly reawakened in the remembrance of manythe mighty mission which our age is called on toperform for the development of our race, even inthe realm of harmony,--more especially in ourFather-land.
God speed you, my dear friend! I owe you aletter which you shall shortly have, and my newestmusic besides, I am going on well; indeed, I maysay every day better. Greet those to whom it willgive pleasure from me. Farewell, and do not forgetyour
The musical Count is from this day forthcashiered with infamy. The first violin [Schuppanzigh]ruthlessly transported to Siberia. The Baron [seeNo. 10] for a whole month strictly interdicted fromasking questions; no longer to be so hasty, and todevote himself exclusively to his ipse miserum.[1]
[Footnote 1: Written in gigantic characters in pencil on a large sheet of paper.The "musical Count" is probably Count Moritz Lichnowsky, brotherof Prince Carl Lichnowsky, in whose house were held those musicalperformances in which Beethoven's works were first produced. Even atthat time he behaved in a very dictatorial manner to those gentlemenwhen his compositions were badly executed. Thence the name givenhim by Haydn of "The Great Mogul."]
To my great comfort, a person has returnedhere with whom I can enjoy the pleasures of societyand disinterested friendship,--one of the friendsof my youth [Stephan von Breuning]. I haveoften spoken to him of you, and told him that sinceI left my fatherland, you are one of those to whommy heart specially clings. Z. [Zmeskall?] doesnot seem quite to please him; he is, and alwayswill be, too weak for true friendship, and I look onhim and ---- as mere instruments on which I playas I please, but never can they bear noble testimonyto my inner and outward energies, or feel truesympathy with me; I value them only in so far astheir services deserve. Oh! how happy should Inow be, had I my full sense of hearing; I wouldthen hasten to you; whereas, as it is, I must withdrawfrom everything. My best years will thuspass away, without effecting what my talents andpowers might have enabled me to perform. Howmelancholy is the resignation in which I must takerefuge! I had determined to rise superior to allthis, but how is it possible? If in the course ofsix months my malady be pronounced incurablethen, Amenda! I shall appeal to you to leave allelse and come to me, when I intend to travel (myaffliction is less distressing when playing and composing,and most so in intercourse with others),and you must be my companion. I have a convictionthat good fortune will not forsake me, for towhat may I not at present aspire? Since you werehere I have written everything except operas andchurch music. You will not, I know, refuse mypetition; you will help your friend to bear his burdenand his calamity. I have also very much perfectedmy pianoforte playing, and I hope that ajourney of this kind may possibly contribute to yourown success in life, and you would thenceforth alwaysremain with me. I duly received all yourletters, and though I did not reply to them, youwere constantly present with me, and my heartbeats as tenderly as ever for you. I beg you willkeep the fact of my deafness a profound secret, andnot confide it to any human being. Write to mefrequently; your letters, however short, console andcheer me; so I shall soon hope to hear from you. 2ff7e9595c
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