Music 4 - Final Study Guide PDF

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MUSIC 4 Final Study Guide Prelude 4 & Chapter 29: Haydn and Classical Chamber Music The later 1700’s were a time when classical ideals were especially strong in Europe The philosophical and intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment stressed the centrality of reason in human experience Artists and musicians pushed towards order and reason- a “natural simplicity” in music An instrument that we saw a video of in class made of tuned water glasses called the Glass Armonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin and embodies this fascination with logic, science, and invention common during the Classical era Also important during this time was Absolute Music, which has no specific pictorial or literary program Without text or program, absolute music has to rely on form as its organizing element Themes also become crucial in absolute music Themes are melodic ideas that are essentially the building blocks in a composition Chapter 30: Haydn and the Symphony The symphony is a genre designed to demonstrate the expressive capabilities of a full orchestra The symphony arose as one of the principal instrumental traditions during the Classical era Haydn was a master of the symphony as well as the string quartet The heart of the Classical orchestra (about 30-40 players) was the strings, who were assisted by the woodwinds, brass, and percussion Chapter 31: Mozart, Chamber Music, and Larger Forms The first movement of the Classical multi-movement cycle is usually in sonata-allegro form The sonata-allegro form is separated into three main sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation The first theme will establish a home key and a bridge, or a transitional passage, will lead to a second theme in a contrasting key In class we studied the first movement of Mozart’s Eine Kliene Nachtmusik, which is in sonata-allegro form Mozart was an extremely gifted child prodigy He began composing before the age of five and by thirteen had written compositions ranging from sonatas, to concertos, to symphonies, to religious music We examined his first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik which was in sonata-allegro form. The third movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik which is a minuet and trio. And also his Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453, I Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453, I is essentially in sonata-allegro form, however the first movement of the Classical concerto also has a double exposition The first exposition the orchestra states the themes, and in the second the piano plays the themes and adds one of it’s own (the piano theme) In the recapitulation section there is also a cadenza in which the soloist launches in to a free play of fantasy on one or more of the themes of the movement. Traditionally this section would often be improvised.

Joseph Haydn’s, Emperor Quartet, Op. 76, No. 3, II The second section of Joseph Haydn’s Emperor Quartet is a theme and variations based on a hymn that he wrote for the Austrian emperor. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), K. 525, I and III The first movement of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is in sonata-allegro form The third movement on the other hand is a minuet, which was originally a Baroque court dance It’s stately triple meter (3/4) embodied the ideal of an aristocratic age Chapter 33 & 34 - Beethoven Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany and when he died at 56, he was famous and revered When he was in his twenties, Beethoven began to lose his hearing, probably the most traumatic affliction that a musician could experience Even though he never regained his hearing and struggled with feeling isolated, the remainder of his career was spent in an effort to achieve his artistic goals In his early career, Beethoven adhered to classical traditions but soon began to break away, his sonatas exemplify this break from tradition Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was given its title by German poet Ludwig Rellstab, who thought the work sounded like moonlit scenery in Switzerland When Beethoven composed the piece in 1801 he dedicated it to a young pupil that he was enamored with named Countess Giulietta Guicciardi It does not present the opposition of themes or keys typical of a first movement but instead looks forward to song forms favored by Romantic composers In 1802, Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers known as the Heilingenstadt Teststament in which he reflects on his despair over his increasing deafness and his desire to overcome his emotional and physical ailments in order to fulfill his musical destiny It was after this letter and his time in Heilingenstaldt that he began what became known as his “heroic” period. This period is marked by the composing of the Eroica Symphony The Third Symphony was originally called Bonaparte after Napoleon Bonaparte, who rose to power after the French Revolution When Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804, Beethoven famously tore up the title page of symphony and supposedly said, “So he too is nothing more than an ordinary man” He then changed the title to the Eroica Symphony In his middle period, Beethoven broke with the Classical tradition and pushed its limits to a point that helped define the Romantic era Although his early music was grounded in the Classical tradition, his music defined the Romantic Era Beethoven’s nine symphonies exemplify his experiments with Classical conventions Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is perhaps the best known of all symphonies The first movement, is in sonata-allegro form and springs out of the rhythmic idea of “three shorts and a long” (short-short-short-long) This short-short-short-long rhythmic idea dominates the entire symphony Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is another one of his most famous works It is known as the Choral symphony as it is the first symphony to use an entire choir of singers The fourth movement features a choral setting of Friedrich von Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy”

The text of the poem is an expression if universal brotherhood inspired by the social forces behind the French Revolution It has been used many times for political roles including the tearing down of the Berlin wall Chapter 35: Mozart and Classical Opera In the Classical era, two types of Italian opera prevailed: opera seria (serious opera) and opera buffa (comic opera) Opera seria is serious or tragic Opera buffa was a simpler style that reflected human emotions more realistically Mozart’s Don Giovanni combines elements of opera buffa with those of more intense opera seria Chapter 35: Mozart and the Requiem Mozart’s Requiem was his last large-scale composition and was hailed as one of the masterpieces of the Classical era A Requiem is a musical setting of the Mass for the Dead One section of the Requiem is the Dies irae (“Day of Wrath”) which is a vision of Judgment Day The text of this movement is designed to emphasize the terrible power of divine intervention, beginning with the words “ Day of wrath, day that will dissolve the world into burning coals, as David bore witness with the Sibyl” Prelude 5 & Chapter 37 Romanticism was a self-conscious break from the ideals of the Enlightnement Beethoven is often identified as the first great Romantic composer Many of the tenets of Romanticism are things that Beethoven embodied; the artist struggling against the system rather than working within society and convention; the need to unsettle rather than soothe, the belief that works display their creator’s distinctive originality and selfexpression Musically, Romanticism is also distinguished from Classicism Some of the musical traits include: Longer pieces with expanded forms (like the tone poem, the choral symphony etc), Melodic lyricism, “singing melodies” More chromatic, dissonant and expressive harmonies Themes of dreams and passions, life and death, God and nature, good versus evil… Instruments also developed in the Romantic era The industrial Revolution brought with it the means to create more affordable and responsive musical instruments Pianos were greatly improved, instruments like the saxophone were invented, and the sound of the orchestra was greatly influenced After Beethoven Romantic composers sought to break from traditional Classical forms One form that became a favored Romantic genre was a German art song for solo voice and piano called the lied Franz Schubert was a master of the lied writing some 600 lieder total One of his first lieder that he ever wrote became probably his most famous, entitled Elfking Elfking uses a poem by Geothe and tells the story of a father riding through the forest with his dying son, trying to get to help The piece doesn't subscribe to any Classical form Instead, it has no repetitions of whole sections and the musical accompaniment changes for each stanza of the poem

This type of song structure is called “through-composed” but new music is presented throughout the composition Chapter 42: Berlioz and the Program Symphony Another way Romantic composers found a way to avoid Classical forms was though program music As opposed to “absolute music” which is instrumental music that isn't meant to represent any literary or pictorial meanings, “program music” was instrumental music endowed with literary or pictorial associations Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is an example of program music, its story based on his own personal life The main character of the story is a musician who is infatuated with a woman who doesn't love him back Throughout the piece, Berlioz uses a recurring theme to represent his beloved; he called this recurring theme the Idée fixe or fixed idea This fixed idea acts as a musical thread unifying the five different movements; though the them is altered and changed depending on the scene that Berlioz is attempting to represent Chapter 39: Chopin and Romantic Keyboard Music Technical improvements to the piano in the 19th century led to more sophisticated and subtle piano compositions Polish composer Frederic Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the piano and essentially originated the modern piano style He usually wrote in what was the equivalent to a song called the short lyric piano piece this was the perfect vehicle for his ability to express melodious and dramatic moods within a compact form Within this form Chopin would often look back to his Polish roots and compose Polish folk dances Perhaps his most famous of these dances are his set of mazurkas The mazurka originated in Chopin’s home district in Poland and is a lively triple-meter dance with the accent on the second or third beat of the measure To even further create dramatic and emotional moods in his pieces, Chopin would often implement a technique called rubato, which means “robbed time” Rubato is a technique in which liberties are taken with the rhythm without upsetting the basic beat, hence the term “robbed time” Chapter 43: Grieg and Orchestral Nationalism In the nineteenth century, political conditions in Europe encouraged the growth of nationalism to the point that it became a decisive force within the Romantic movement Composers began to embrace a sense of nationalism and incorporate these elements into their music Edvard Grieg, who was from Norway, was one such composer Grieg wrote a series of pieces that were meant to be performed between the acts of a play called Peer Gynt, a play by Norwegian playwright Henrick Ibsen The play is a story based on a Norwegian folk legend, showing Griegs nationalistic tendencies This type of composition in which smaller pieces are meant to be played in between the acts of a play, is known as incidental music

Incidental music is just one more example of a solution that Romantic composers found in attempting to not adhere to Classical forms and structures The different pieces of music depict the action of the play Morning Mood, for example, is meant to depict the sunrise towards the beginning of the play In the Hall of the Mountain King depicts the main character being chased by a group of troll daughters Chapter 47: Tchaikovsky and the Ballet Up until the early nineteenth century, the dominant center of ballet was France, however it shifted to Russia in the mid to late nineteenth century This shift was due in large part to the arrival of the great, French-born, choreographer Marius Petipa, who created the dances for over a hundred works This combined with the work of Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Marius Petipa created the dances Tchaikovsky’s ballets Tchaikovsky was a closeted homosexual at a time when homosexuality in Russia was illegal He was extremely sensitive by nature, and suffered from depression his whole life He was the first Russian whose music appealed to Western tastes, though he still very much maintained Russian nationalistic elements in his compositions One Russian element that we saw in examining The Nutcracker was his use of the Trepak (a Russian dance) Tchaikovsky was also experimental in using uncommon non-traditional instruments in his orchestrations In the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky employs an instrument called the celesta, whose celestial timbre perfectly suits the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance The celesta is a keyboard instrument where when the keys are pushed, the hammers inside the instrument hit metal chimes, the result is “something between a piano and a glockenspiel, with a divinely beautiful tone” as Tchaikovsky described it Chapters 45, 46, & 48: 19th Century Romantic Opera: Verdi, Wagner, & Puccini Romantic opera developed distinct national styles in Italy, Germany and France Opera buffa (comic opera) and opera seria (serious opera) a were both favored in Italy and the Romantic era marked a high point of the “bel canto” (or beautiful singing) style Giuseppe Verdi was a master of nineteenth century Italian opera His music was adopted by supporters of political independence for Italy, and his operas therefore stirred a revolutionary spirit HIs opera Rigoletto is the epitome of Romantic drama and passion The quartet in Act III is considered of a masterpiece of operatic ensemble writing In Germany, Richard Wagner called his opera “music dramas” and they integrated music, poetry, drama, and spectacle He called this concept of a fully integrated total artwork a Gesamtkuntwerk Throughout his operas, the orchestra became the unifying element with “leading motives” (or leitmotifs) which recur throughout the work, undergoing variation and development like the themes in a symphony The leitmotifs carry specific meanings, suggesting in a few notes a person, an emotion, an idea, an object…

Wagner’s four part music drama cycle The Ring of the Nibelung exemplifies this “total artwork” concept The cycle is divided into four operas, Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämerung Act III of Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) centers on Wotan (father of the gods) and Brünnhilde (his favorite daughter and one of the nine Valkyries) Brünnhilde has disobeyed her father Wotan and as punishment she is turned into a mortal and left to sleep until a man comes along and she is forever his slave At Brünnhilde’s request, Wotan makes it more challenging to awaken her by enclosing her in a ring of fire, and only someone who is without fear can awaken her It is at this point that we hear Siegfried’s leitmotif, who will be the fearless hero that rescues her, and the hero of the Ring cycle In contrast to Wagner, Gaicomo Puccini sought to capture reality and drama of real-life in his operas Puccini’s operas combined two trends that became common at the end of the nineteenth century; verismo (which is realism) and exoticism (a fascination with other cultures and foreign music) Madame Butterfly exemplifies both the verismo style, and exoticism (focusing on Japanese music and culture) It tells the story of a Geisha who renounces her life and culture to be with an American naval soldier. He leaves for America and when he returns he has married another woman in America. When he discovers that his Geisha (Madame Butterfly) has birthed his child, he requests to take the child back with him and his new wife to America. Madame Butterfly agrees and kills herself. The aria “Un bel di” captures her longing for his return while he is back in America Chapter 50, Debussy and French Impressionism Claude Debussy was greatly influenced by impressionist painters like Claude Monet, who broke with the grandiosity of contemporary art, and tried to capture on canvas the freshness of his first impressions and the change in the appearance of his subjects. Monet experimented with light and color in a way that characterized the impressionist style In music, Debussy embodied the impressionist style using exotic and modal scales, unresolved dissonances, free rhythm, rich orchestral color, and richer chords like ninth chords Debussy was not only inspired by painters like Monet, but also exotic instruments and music ensembles that he was exposed to at the 1889 Paris World Exhibition It was there that he first heard Gamelon music from Java, and sought to recreate their interments timbre, unique sense of harmony and melody, and their unique rhythmic qualities Prelude 6: Early Musical Modernism Early modernist artist were greatly influenced by “primitive” art The features of early musical modernism include New Rhythmic complexities (non-symmetrical patterns, polyrhythm etc…) New melody and harmony (jagged melodies, high dissonant harmonies…) Orchestration (smaller orchestras, greater focus on winds and percussion) Chapter 53: Schoenberg and Musical Expressionism Arnold Schoenberg was the most important composer in the German expressionist movement He sought to free dissonance from having to resolve to consonance and eventually rejected tonality altogether

This composition style that rejected tonality altogether by giving all twelve notes of the chromatic scale equal importance became known as atonality (or atonal music) Schoenberg’s groundbreaking expressionist atonal work was a song cycle consisting of 21 songs, separated into three sections of 7 entitled Pierrot Lunaire Pierrot is an archetypal clown character Song No. 18 from part III, depicts Pierrot going out to have fun (to a party) but he becomes disturbed by a white spot on his black jacket The music reflects his frustration in trying to rub the spot away, but it is no use since the spot is actually just a fleck of moonlight, only when the morning comes does it finally disappear Chapter 54: Stravinsky and Modernist Multimedia At Paris’s Ballet Russes modernist approaches to art, music and dance were all combined in a sort of modernist multi-media Igor Stravinsky revitalized and revolutionized rhythm at this time by increasing its complexity He accomplished this by using things like polyrhythms, unpredictable accents and changing meters Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was meant to depict pagan mating and sacrificial rituals in bronze-age Russia It was revolutionary especially in it’s use of rhythms and shifting time meters The primal rhythmic qualities along with heavy use of dissonance cause the audience to protest and nearly start a riot at this piece’s 1913 premier in Paris

Essays After Beethoven, Romantic composers struggled to break with the Classical tradition, yet still make their music accessible to their audiences. What were some of the ways that they solved what I referred to in class at the “Beethoven problem”? Give specific examples. Music is a mirror. It reflects the culture, art, literature, political climate and society in which it was written. Pick a composer that we have studied this semester and discuss how their music reflects their place in history....