Major

Major is a military rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, the rank is just senior to that of an army captain and right below the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks.

Majors are typically assigned as specialized executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers. In some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the New York State Police, New Jersey State Police and several others. As a police rank, Major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of Superintendent.

When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including general-major or major general, denoting a mid-level general officer, and sergeant major, denoting the most senior NCO of a military unit. The term Major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major.

Maria Tipo

Maria Tipo (born 23 December 1931) is an Italian pianist.

Biography

Tipo was born in Naples. She was taught originally by her mother, Ersilia Cavallo, who was a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni. She went on to study under Alfredo Casella and Guido Agosti.

At only seventeen, she won the Geneva international piano competition. Since then, she has performed widely and made a considerable number of recordings.

Maria Tipo's first appearance in North America in the late 1950s, where she played over 300 concerts, caused her to be nicknamed the "Neapolitan Horowitz". Her first recording, an LP of 12 Scarlatti sonatas, which she recorded in a mere 4 hours in 1955, was hailed by Newsweek magazine as the most spectacular record of the year.

Her recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations and of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti have been awarded the "Diapason d’Or". She has also championed the music of Muzio Clementi both in concert and on disc. Her stature has tended to be higher among her fellow-pianists than with the general public. Martha Argerich, in an interview with Rai Radio 3, referred to her as "sensational"

G major

G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F♯. Its key signature has one sharp, F♯.

G major's relative minor is E minor, and its parallel minor is G minor.

For orchestral works in G major, the timpani are typically set to G and D, a fifth apart, rather than a fourth apart as for most other keys.

Notable compositions

Baroque period

Classical era

B-flat major

The B♭ (B-flat) major scale consists of the pitches B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats.

Its relative minor is G minor, and its parallel minor is B♭ minor.

Many transposing instruments are pitched in B-flat major, including the clarinet, trumpet, tenor saxophone, and soprano saxophone. As a result, B-flat major is a popular key for concert band compositions.

History

Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 98 is credited as the first symphony he (or anyone else) wrote in that key in which he included trumpet and timpani parts. Actually, his brother Michael Haydn had written one such symphony earlier, No. 36, though Joseph Haydn still gets credit for writing the timpani part at actual pitch with an F major key signature (instead of transposing with a C major key signature), a procedure that made sense since he limited that instrument to the tonic and dominant pitches. Many editions of the work, however, use no key signature and specify the instrument as "Timpani in B-flat–F".

Sonata in G major (HWV 358)

The Sonata in G major (HWV 358) was composed (c. 1707-10) by George Frideric Handel, for an unspecified instrument and keyboard (harpsichord). The work is also referred to as HHA iv/18,3. (There is no HG designation for the work.)

For an unknown reason, Handel did not indicate the instrumentation or the tempo markings on the movements. In fact, the original manuscript does not even mention that it is a "Sonata". The tessitura is high for a violin, and the work does not fall below "g" (which is a whole octave above the violin's lowest note). For this reason (although the violin is the most likely instrument), the recorder is sometimes used for performance.

The work is referred to as one of the Fitzwilliam sonatas.

A typical performance of the work takes almost five minutes.

Movements

The work consists of three movements:

Note that the tempo for each movement was not marked on the score, and the above are by general agreement by subsequent publishers.

See also