Your life is a cadenza

Finesse: violinist Renaud Capuçon 

There is so much chorus in your life, so much orchestra -- there are so many people around you, each person an instrument, singing along. You enjoy this coming together, this orchestra, and yet you wish for a solo tune.

You wish for a cadenza.

You wish for your tune to stand out, you wish to reach out to people, reach out to the collective -- the people.

Have you ever been to a rock concert and heard the guitarist or drummer do a solo? A cadenza is kind of like that, except it’s part of the classical-music tradition. Cadenzas are for virtuosos: extremely talented, expert players of their instruments. [source]

You are a player, an instrumentalist -- and a champion at that. You want to tell people about the best of your self. That brilliant personal passage of your life, your talents or your story, that awesomeness is a cadenza.

It's the same in classical music. A brilliant musician - singer, pianist, flutist - plays or sings a passage, mostly alone, while the rest of the orchestra waits. This passage is the cadenza.

Johann Georg Pisendel's delightful 'violin concerto in d major' has the cadenza (accompanied lightly by other instruments) at 0:35 mark till the 2:00 mark and then the orchestra joins in the festivities. And festive this music is. How I wish you and I could discuss over tea and evening bonfire, the marvellous counterpoint that defines this music. Another time, surely!



Despite having friends around, so much activity, you sometimes wish to shine alone, like that guitar solo in a rock concert. You wish for your life to be like a cadenza. I introduce the cadenza in simple words.