About

Hello! I’m Stephan Williams, a piano teacher and accompanist (or "collaborative pianist," if you like). I have a degree in philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. I studied piano for seven years with David Zapka, former music professor at West Liberty University, West Virginia. I started this blog to better myself as a musician and motivate myself to learn more about music, in order to become a better teacher and performer.

What the point of this blog?
Posts about a wide variety of topics in classical music, from famous musical interpretations and historic performances to reflections on great composers and their work. I’m especially interested in the great but neglected composers of the past, such as Muzio Clementi, Jan Ladislav Dussek, and Nikolai Medtner.

Since there are areas in classical music with which I am regrettably quite ignorant (opera, for example), I will be writing down my discoveries and reactions here. Usually I’ll just be throwing my opinion out there, other times I’ll be offering a new or controversial perspective on a topic in classical music.

Under the "Videos" tab, you can watch recordings of my performances from my YouTube channel. Under the "Resources" tab, you'll find plenty of links to websites and channels which I think are beneficial to all kinds of musicians, not just pianists. "Areas of Research" contains some topics/fields in music that I hope to eventually contribute to in more formal writing, and that I hope to see more research done on.

Whether you’re a seasoned musician yourself, or an inquisitive amateur, I hope you find something of interest on this blog.

Why is it called "Opus 109"?
Opus 109 is the catalogue number of one of my favorite pieces of music - Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109. Here is a wonderful recording by Emil Gilels of this piece:

                                                  

A Note
Although this blog is about music, my Catholic faith informs every aspect of my life, and indeed the true religion is pertinent to everyone. To that end, and considering the times in which we live, I thought I would offer some resources for prayer, for those interested.


Popular posts from this blog

2022-2023: Two Years of Music in Review

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Last year, I didn't get around to writing a post like this, so now I will be reviewing the past two years of my musical endeavors - discussing what I learned, enriching experiences I had, and what I look forward to improving upon in 2024. It was my desire to improve as a musician that led to me starting this blog, so I thought it fitting to reflect on these things. New Discoveries The past two years of have been the most musically involved for me, from discovering new composers to improving my piano technique, and giving a variety of performances. First, the composers. I present them in roughly chronological order rather than the order I discovered or "rediscovered" them. Domenico Scarlatti Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas are not new to me - I grew up hearing them (primarily on classical guitar), and they have always been a source of musical inspiration and joy. However, until the past year or so, I had only tinkered with them on the piano. In years of piano lessons, Sca...
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Beginning Beethoven

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The first page of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1, from my beat-up Schenker edition   For a long time, I have aspired to learn and eventually perform all of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. I grew up hearing them and they have remained, after the keyboard works of Bach, probably the most influential works in my musical development. I think now is the time to start working on this massive undertaking in earnest. In this post, I will explain how I plan to approach this project. Background I worked on Beethoven's first sonata (Op. 2, No. 1) with my teacher David Zapka six or seven years ago, but I never manage to master its difficulties, owing partly to a lack of dedication and poor practice habits. A couple years later, I worked with him on the second sonata (Op. 2, No. 2), with essentially the same result - I got it "sort of" in my fingers, but never mastered it.      I also worked with him on No. 20 in G Major, the easiest sonata. The story of how that came ab...
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An Excellent Documentary on Domenico Scarlatti

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       I wanted to introduce readers to a documentary that I recently came across on YouTube entitled, "Domenico Scarlatti: His Music and His World." A 1985 BBC production, the documentary explores the fascinating life of this great composer and the rich cultural heritage that led to the creation of his works, especially the 555 keyboard sonatas.     What stands out in the production, besides it great artwork and scenery of Italy and Spain, are the phenomenal performances by the Colombian harpsichordist Rafael Puyana. As a pianist, it is always intriguing to watch the specialized technique required to play the harpsichord convincingly. Puyana's subtle adjustments of the tempi, along with Scarlatti's mastery of the keyboard idiom, give the impression of greater dynamic contrast than is actually possible on harpsichord.     I also appreciated the presence of two vocal works by Scarlatti - his Stabat Mater and Salve Regina. In the face of s...
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