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Taylor Woolstenhulme Sister Schmid FDHUM 110-26 Foundations of Humanities Music Listening Midterm

Music is a insight into the feelings we have, and the way we feel them. When looking back through history, it is clear that music has changed, but the love and appreciation for it never wavers. Though the years we have had Baroque, Modern, Impressionism/Pre-Modernism, Romantic, and Classical music. From these categories I have picked Four Seasons  by Antonio Vivaldi from Baroque, Little Women Soundtrack b y Thomas Newman for Modern, Daphnis et

 he Best Chloé b y Maurice Ravel and Charles Dutoit from Impressionism/Pre-Modernism, T Nocturnes in 432 Hz tuning  by Frédéric Chopin from the Romantic era, and from Classical I chose Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 b y Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Baroque

When I picked Four Seasons b y Antonio Vivaldi I had thought that I had never heard it before, and while I had never heard it in its entirety, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had in fact heard many different parts of it before. Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678. During his time on this earth, Vivaldi reached what you could compare to “Superstardom” because of his impressive Baroque compositions. Vivaldi was a very structured composer as can be seen in Four Seasons. A  ntonio Vivaldi died on July 28, 1741 at the age of 63.

Four Seasons i s composed of four concertos that each have four movements. Concerto No.1 in E Major, Op.8, “La Primavera” (Spring) includes the movements “Allegro”, “Largo E Pianissimo Sempre”, and “Allegro Pastorale”. I really liked listening to “Allegro” because it was one of the melodies that I knew before hand. I really enjoyed how it was mostly made up of strings and a piano. The stings would go from very strong to very fluttery as resembling birds in spring. “Allegro” was a very strong and upbeat piece that I really enjoyed. On the other hand, “Largo E Pianissimo” was painfully slow. It was very beautiful but had so many violins playing softly that it almost immediately fell into a slumber. The Concerto No.2 in G Minor, Op.8, “L’estate” (Summer) also has three movements that are Allegro non “Molto”, “Adagio E Piano-Presto E Forte”, “Presto”. My favorite out of these three is “Presto” because it was very upbeat and had some really awesome violin parts. I also really enjoyed when all of the instruments would come together to play. This piece did not make me want to fall asleep at all, which was something I really enjoyed after “Molto” and “Adagio E Piano-Presto E Forte”. Concerto No. 3 in F Major, Op. 8, “L’autunno” (Autumn) includes “Allegro”, “Adagio Molto”, and “Allegro”. After talking about my favorites I decided to add in the one that I hated. The one I truly hated was “Adagio Molto”. It was just too painfully slow for me, and in fact did make me fall asleep once. The piano finally seemed to get some recognition, but only because all of the strings were so monogamous soft in everything they played. Concerto No.4 in F Minor, Op. 8, “L’inverno” (Winter) was one of my favorites because if finally brought back some life into the piece as a whole. In this part there are “Allegro non Molto”, “Largo”, and “Allegro”. My favorite out of “Winter” and even the whole Four Seasons

would definitely be “Allegro non Molto”. It is finally upbeat again, which makes me like it, but doesn't get to my favorite part till about the last 60 seconds. But when those seconds come I get excited for it because I love the way that all of the instruments come together to bring this really powerful melody.

Modern The section of Modern music was my favorite to listen to out of all the groups. I chose Little Women S  oundtrack b y Thomas Newman. Thomas Newman was born October 20, 1955 and is still alive today. He is mostly known for composing soundtracks for many different movies, including the movie “Little Women”. The movements go in the order of “Orchard House”, “Meg’s Hair”, “Snowplay”, “Scarlet Fever”, “Ashes”, “Spring”, “La Fayette’s Welcome”, “A Telegram”, “Two Couples”, “Burdens”, “New York”, “Harvest Time”, “Marla Redowa”, “Letters from Joe”, “Amy Abroad”, “Limes”, “Beth’s Secret”, “For the Beauty of the Earth”, “Little Women”, “Learning to Forget”, “Valley of the Shadow”, “Port Royal Gallop”, “Domestic Experiences”, “The Laurence Boy”, “Lovelornity”, and “Under the Umbrella”. “Orchard House” is the first movement in Little Women. T  his piece includes some strong punches of emotion. This movement is probably the most emotionally strong out of all of the movements. This is the song that summarizes what happens in the music as a whole by bringing in a little of the melody from each of the other movements. I really like how this song could go from really soft to really strong but still float together. The strong, happy parts usually focused on the brass and string instruments while the softer parts had a lot of woodwinds, such as the flute.

“Spring” is up on my list of favorite movements. While only being 57 seconds, this movement does what it was set out to do, create a emotion and have a meaning. If I had to pick a melody that fit Spring perfectly it would be this. It does a wonderful job of creating a feeling of newness and freshness. Also, the wispiness of the harp and strings really create a feeling of movement that makes you want to sway with the beat. Even though “Beth’s Secret” is slow and sad, it is still very beautiful. It is strongly composed of strings and a harp. This could almost be classified as a lullaby because it is so soft and calming. I think that what makes it so calming it that the stings have so many notes that they hold out for multiple beats. It ends with the introduction of what sounds like a solo flute. “Port Royal Gallop” is just a really fun movement that makes me want to get up and dance with someone. I really liked that it had a lot of the brass instruments, because during all of Little Women the brass instruments have been almost the only source of excitement in the music. The fast and close together beats really make you want to wiggle your toes.

Impressionism/Pre-Modernism

Daphnis et Chloé w  as composed by Maurice Ravel. Maurice Ravel lived from March 7,1875 to December 28, 1937. Daphnis et Chloé i s split into three tableaus. The first tableau has six movements while the preceding two only have three. Tableau One is made up of “Introduction et danse religieuse”, “Danse générale”, “Danse grotesque de Dorcon”, “Danse légére et gracieuse de Daphnis”, “Danse de Lycéion”,

“Nocturne”. “Introduction et danse religieuse” is very beautiful. The music is very fluttery and reflects a calm serenity. The string in instruments mixed with the woodwinds is very beautiful too. “Danse lente et mystérieuse des Nymphes” is very ominous in its start because of the screeching violins with a solo flute. During the middle it starts to gains some momentum when the wind comes through. I have no idea how they made the sound of gushing wind but it sounds very realistic. While the quite strings are always present, it seems they switch the solo instrument between Flute, oboe and some brass instruments. It ends very strange, almost trying to signify that something went wrong. Tableau II is made up of “Introduction”, “Danse guerrière”, and “Danse suppliante de Chloé”. “Danse guerrière” starts out very strong because there is so many brass and percussion instruments. Trumpets have very quick parts that make it seem like an intense race or something. “Danse guerrière” started to give me musical whiplash because it went from fast to slow over and over. It slows down but turns erre, then the music picks right back up again like someone is in a fight. It all the sudden turns quiet and adds in men's vocal chanting which starts increasing speed again. It slowly picks up speed again, leads it to a climax, then slowing down again for the end. In Tableau III there is “Lever du jour”, “Pantomime”, and “Danse générale”. “Danse générale” goes from super slow to superfast over and over again, giving me that musical whiplash. Flute leads the crescendo for this part. It almost feels like there is some conflict and is being fought out between two characters. It turns kind of sour near the end, leading you to think

that the conflict of the story is coming to its climax. The vocals come back at the end making the ending very strong.

Romantic Frédéric Chopin was born March 1, 1810 and died on October 17, 1848, but during his lifetime he was a romantic composer. He composed songs called The Nocturnes. T  hese are all

 hich was made pieces that are played on the piano. I listened to The Best Nocturnes in 432 Hz w up of “Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 no. 1”, “Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 no. 2”, “Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op. 15, no. 2”, “Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27 no. 2”, “Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 55 no. 2”, “Nocturne in E major, Op. 62 no. 2”, “Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72”, “Nocturne in C sharp minor 'Lento con gran espressione', B. 49 (Op. posth.)”, “Nocturne in C minor, B. 108”, and “Nocturne Oubliée in C sharp minor”. The first one that I will talk about is “Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 no. 2”. I really liked this movement because I had actually heard it before. It was slow but I didn't feel like falling asleep. I know almost nothing about piano, but I can tell that this would be a hard paice to learn. Second is “Nocturnes in F sharp major, Op. 15, no. 2”. This was a very beautiful movement. It was a little slow for my taste, but would be a good song to fall asleep to. About midway through the song it starts to pick up speed. I really liked the speed, but I did not last long and went back to the slow speed that it had before. I ended very soft and beautifully. The next movement is “Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 55, no. 2”. I did not really like this piece at all. It seemed almost catterb rained to me. It mostly reminded me of a two year old who

got hold of a piano. It seemed as if the composer could not decide if they wanted the movement to be fast or slow. I bet that many people love this piece, but it was definitely not my type of music. The last movement that I will write about is “Nocturne  in E major, Op. 62 no. 2”. I really enjoyed listening to this movement after the last few that I had to listen to. It was not really fast but it was not slow either. It had structure so it did not feel anything like “Nocturne  in E flat major, Op. 55, no. 2”. I was very soft and calming and I would like to listen to it again.

Classical Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 - December 5, 1791) composed the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550. H  e wrote beautiful music, but one of his best is Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550. This symphony is made up of four movements, “Molto allegro”, “Andante”, “Menuetto. Allegretto”, “Finale. Allegro assai”. “Molto Allegro” is a very fun movement to listen to. I would not call it happy, but it was very fun to listen to. It did not make me want to fall asleep like many of the other songs I listened to made me want to. I really liked how you had big parts from the woodwinds, and not just the strings. I felt as though this movement had different emotions that it was trying to convey. I felt as if they were switching through these emotions throughout the movement. “Andante” was also very beautiful, but felt as if it had more tension. It was much slower and hit the notes very strong. I thought that the string parts were especially pretty. I felt that it

was a little long and almost got a little tired of it. But it brought me back in near the end when it picked back up some of its speed and tension. “Menuetto. Allegretto” was very good. I was really happy that the speed got picked back up again. I loved the way that it flowed in a rhythm that made me feel like I was supposed to be dancing. I also really liked that they had some strong parts from the brass area that really added power to the music. “Finale. Allegro assai” is undoubtedly my favorite movement out of Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550. It goes from soft to loud over and over again which causes a feeling of suspicion, but still keeps that mood happy. The string parts were especially fast and high, but still very pretty. It was a good and strong ending to the peice....