Assignment 2: Listening and Score ID

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Das Jahr, "December," pg. 439.

Genre: Character Piece Date: 1841 How does it sound? Very fast and rhythmic with descending short bass notes. Alberti bass. Ascending and descending arcs in the right hand. Score/Visual ID: c minor. Alberti bass. Allegro Molto What is new/innovative/significant? Song cycle that represents each month of the year from January through December plus a postlude. Gave it to her husband as a Christmas gift No standard form: has 2 sections: a fantasia on an original theme, and the chorale variations in C major sixteenth notes in variety of patterns often blurred with the sustaining pedal, suggest a snowstorm. Rather than exact repetition, there is constant variation, creating a blizzard of quickly changing textures. "snowstorm" theme What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? song cycle, snowstorm, variations, Luther chorales

Robert Schumann, Carnaval, Op. 9 - a) Eusebius, pg. 431

Genre: Character Pieces Date: 1834-35 How does it sound? Score/Visual ID: Piano, g minor; begins with eighth notes beamed in 7s with descending eighth notes beamed in 4 at the cadences. Mm 17 introduces right-hand harmony and repeats the same rhythmic and melodic pattern. ABA form What is new/innovative/significant? The titles of the set and its 24 short movements evoke a masquerade ball during carnival time: the period of parties, parades, and masquerades and feasting before Lent. The titles suggest interactions between dancers, costumes, even several musicians such as Chopin, Paganini, Clara Wieck, her teacher (father) and Schumann's then-fiancée Ernestine von Fricken. Schuman's alter egos are represented as Florestan (hothead virtuoso) and Eusebius (contemplative dreamer). Schumann injects musical ciphers and codes as he was known to have an interest in. Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little Scenes on Four Notes) The four notes are A, E flat, C, and B. He arranged them in different ways to spell out the first four letters of Ernestine's home town, the word "ash" to refer to Ash Wednesday, a cipher close to one he used for himself. He notates all 3 ciphers between movements 8 and 9 and labels the 10th movement, Lettres Dansantes (Dancing Letters) What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? character pieces, ciphers, masquerades, etc.

Gioachino Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act I, No. 7, Una voce poco fa, pg. 704

Genre: Comic Opera Date: 1816 How does it sound? Full orchestra in brisk 3/4 time. Dotted rhythms, E major. Vocal line starts on title text, "una voce poco fa." Score/Visual ID: Lots of instrumentation, with vocal line What is new/innovative/significant? Rossini signed the contract for the opera 2 months before the opera was to be premiered. A popular legend says he wrote the opera in 13 days. The first performance in Rome was a flop, but was a great success when it as revived in Bologna that summer. It is Rossini's most famous comic opera-many regard it as the best of all time. Developed a standard pattern for solo scenes in collab with his librettists. Format: orchestral intro followed by an aria that expresses two or more contrasting moods in at least two sections: a slow cantabile and a faster cabaletta. In most scenes, especially in serious operas, a scena in recitative precedes the cantabile and a tempo di mezzo (middle movement) appears between the cantabile and cabaletta, during the time when something happens that changes the situation or the character's mood. What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? cavatina, Rossini scene structure, comic opera

1. Antonin Dvorak: Slavonic Dances, Op. 46: No. 1, Presto, pg. 1210.

Genre: Dance for piano four hands Date: 1878 How does it sound? Brisk, repetition of phrases. Score/Visual ID: 3/4, C major; double treble and bass staves, moving melody in the treble What is new/innovative/significant? The work was commissioned by music publisher, Fritz Simrock who wanted dances for piano four hands similar to Brahms's Hungarian Dances. Used Czech dances to oblige Simrock who wanted an authentic nation style: polka, dumka, sousedská, and skočna First dance is a furiant- a couples dance in triple meter and four-measure phrase. He chose this dance to highlight ethnicity Piece begins with idiosyncratic hemiolas What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? Czech nationalist dances, dances, four hands piano, Simrock, hemiolas

Franz Schubert, Gretchen am Spinnrade D. 118. Pg. 394.

Genre: Lied Date: 1814 How does it sound? Begins with repetitive right-hand 16th notes, then the voice enters in the second bar Score/Visual ID: Piano + Voice means it must be an art song; 16th notes + German text mean it is Gretchen-spinning wheel motion in piano What is new? Schubert constructs this Lied to portray Gretchen's emotions; uses modified strophic form; every element (melody, harmonic shifts, phrase structure, accompaniment, and text setting) is meant to support and enhance the text. What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? Lied/Lieder; Song-Forms: Modified Strophic; Romanticism; etc.

Giacomo Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots: Conclusion of Act II, pg. 731

Genre: Opera Date: 1832-1836 How does it sound? The beginning is cheery and upbeat in 3/4. Marguerite sings and is answered by chorus. slow section-oath middle section-dialogue in accompanied recitative final stretta-fast conclusion in which everyone reacts. Score/Visual ID: It begins in C major and moves through A flat, G major, c minor, E flat major and cycles some more through these keys and ends on C major. The text is in French. Chorus, Marcel, Raol, Marguerite, Saint-Bris, Valentine What is new/innovative/significant? Based on a horrific historical event, the St. Bartholemew's Day Massacre, August 24, 1572, when Catholics in Paris slaughtered over 3,000 French Protestants, known as Huguenots. Five acts, enormous cast, ballet, dramatic scenery, and lighting effects. A Protestant character sings a Luther chorale-emblem of political struggle. Meyerbeer presents a new historical view-groups of people, not the rulers, shape history through ideas that the rulers cannot manage. Grandiose, huge spectacle, crowd scenes, special effects Scene structure borrowed from Rossini-orchestral intro mm 1-26, scena 27-78, slow section (cantabile) 79-143 (oath), middle section 144-175, final stretta 176-353 What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? historical drama, opera, French Grand Opera,

1. Giuseppe Verdi, La Traviata, Act III, Scena and Duet, pg. 875.

Genre: Opera Date: 1853 How does it sound? Pulsating rhythm in the cello and bass for 2 and half short measures, Annina enters, "Signora.." They sing together and then Alfredo joins Score/Visual ID: Orchestra with duet. G major, common time; Allegro assi vivo What is new? Most of Verdi's operas are historical, but this one is set in his own time. The scene structure follow's Rossini's structure for duets: scena-recitative, accompanied by orchestra tempo d'attacco- opening scene; characters trade phrases of melody in dialogue cantabile- slow, lyrical; expresses a relatively calm feeling such as sadness or hope tempo di mezzo- middle section; something happens to alter the situation or character's moods fast cabaletta- more expressive emotion such as joy or anger He highlights the sharply contrasting moods of the 3 sections by focusing on three keys related by major thirds-E maj. (tempo d'attacco), A flat maj. (cantabile), C maj. (cabaletta Written during his first period Adapted from Alexandre Dumas the younger, La Dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camillias) "subject of the times"-mature theme of love and death one of the first tragic operas to be set in present time features a new melody that is more tuneful than recitative stark contrast, strong emotions, catchy melodies What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? Rossini's scene structure for duet, Italian opera, realism, "fallen woman"

1. Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Conclusion of Act 1, pg. 831.

Genre: Opera Date: 1857-1859 How does it sound? Orchestral, slow. Call and response between cello and horns, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. Score/Visual ID: Orchestra; german music markings, no vocal line. Key of C, 6/8 time. No text until (b) What is new/innovative/significant? Wagner wrote his own libretto, based on a 13th-century romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. The piano-vocal score and full score was published in 1860 before the work was staged-unusual for an opera Highly complex, it was too novel and too hard to understand initially but later became regarded as one of the most important and influential operas ever composed. The opera is not divided into separate numbers, as earlier operas were. The music continuously follows the action of the drama through each act. The orchestra maintains the continuity Vocal and orchestral music is woven into leitmotives-associated with particular people, things, events, or ideas through the texts or situations with which they appear. The overture is not a separate entity, it is instead a prelude that is an intrinsic part of the musical argument, the seed of all that follows and introduces many motives that will be used later What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? leitmotives, German opera, dragons, epic drama

1. Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe, Op. 48 - a) "Im wunderschönen Monat Mai" Pg. 402.

Genre: Song Cycle Date: 1840 How does it sound? Ascending sixteenth notes in the accompaniment. Single melody line of tenor solo. Dotted rhythm in opening phrases. Score/Visual ID: Single melody line with piano accompaniment. Ascending sixteenthnotes in the right and left hand. What is new/innovative/significant? Schumann wrote this song cycle in May of 1840 in his "Lieder Year." Part of a 16 song cycle set to poems from Heinrich Heine's Lyrisches Intermezzo (selected from the more than sixty poems in this collection). Schumann wrote this song cycle four months before marrying Clara Wieck while in the midst of a nasty legal battle with her father who was trying to prevent the marriage. Piano is equal to voice and perhaps even the leading partner. What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? song cycle; strophic; Romanticism; unfulfilled longing, fragmented; obscure tonality, unresolved suspensions; open-ended; feel unfinished

1. : Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique: Movement 5, "Dream of a witches Sabbath," pg. 563.

Genre: Symphony Date: 1830 How does it sound? It sounds "spooky." Almost like the "Munsters" theme music. Very high, very short, rhythmic strings with high repeated notes in the flute and then abrupt descending slide that is very dramatic. Score/Visual ID: It is obvious because of the sheer volume of instrumentation. What is new/innovative/significant? idée fixe-his obession with Harriet; she is represented in melodic theme. This is the melody of the first Allegro. Fast sonata form. Long, slow intro. Berlioz wrote a detailed program and likened the program to the text of an opera and explained the symphony's music in the same way the libretto does for an opera. The story is inspired by his own infatuation with the English actress Harriet Smithson. First part-dreams and passions: he sees his perfect woman and falls madly in love Second part-the artist finds himself at a party, contemplating the beauties of nature; in the city, in the country-everywhere his beloved appears to him and sows confusion in his heart. Third part- Scene in the Country: pastoral duet of two shepherds/isolation, solitude, what if she mislead him Fourth Part-March to the Scaffold: he watches his own execution, the head rolls; people cheer Fifth part: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath: he is watching himself at a Witches' Sabbath and is in the midst of demons, sorcerors, etc. She joins the Sabbath (orgy). Burlesque parody Died irae (Catholic funeral hymn) All 5 movements are linked by the idée fixe melody that represents his obsession with the woman. What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? German Romanticism; Symophonie; fast sonata form; "instrumental drama"; idée fixe

1. Piotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathétique), Op. 74, Mvt. 3, pg. 1144

Genre: Symphony Date: 1893 How does it sound? lots of strings and flute; call and answer; ascending and descending lines, pizzicato Score/Visual ID: Allegro molto vivace-12/8, fast, What is new/innovative/significant? pg.477 Begins with a light scherzando character that gradually moves into a triumphant march. Emotional path from struggle to triumph-but tells another story and ends extraordinarily with a despairing slow movement, filed with lamenting figures that fade away at the end over a low pulse in the strings, like the beating of a dying heart. Most novel aspect was its slow final movement as opposed to a traditionally fast movement. Tchaikovsky fell ill and died five days after it premiered; it held a second performance under the title, Symphonie Pathétique and was hailed as a masterpiece Third movement embodies the moment of victory before the tragic end Ternary form (ABA) Movement contains a sense of becoming What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? march, tragic end, Symphony,

1. Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, Fourth Mvt., pg 1045

Genre: Symphony Date: 1884-85 How does it sound? Sustained chords, percussion. 1-2-3. March-like, oboe and clarinet duet with moving quarter notes Score/Visual ID: Allegro energico e passsionato, Key of e minor, 3/4 time. What is new/innovative/significant? pg. 473 Brahms's premiered it by the court orchestra at Meiningen in Germany and conducted it himself. It was an instant success He was worried about withstanding the test of time and being compared with Beethoven Traditional 4 mvmt. symphony Allegro non troppo, Andante, Allegro giocoso, Allegro energico e passionato Brahms was wealthy and successful and in a position to compose when and what he wished instead of being tethered to a patron. Finale is a chaconne-a Baroque genre consisting of a series of variations over a repeating bass line in triple meter. Reflects Brahms's fascination with Baroque music Set of variations on an ostinato bass & harmonic pattern Bass is adapted from the final chorus of Bach's Cantata 150, Nach dir, Herr verlanget mich (For thee, O Lord, I belong) Apart from its structure, the chaconne illustrates three frequently occurring characteristics in Brahms's music: wide melodic spans; ambiguity duple and triple meter 6/4 and 3/2, and juxtaposition of simple and compound subdivision, which serve as the beginning of a recapitulation of the first four variations Brahms varies the theme through figuration and registral placement and by giving each variation a distinctive accompaniment What other terms or ideas can you associate with this example? chaconne, German opera, theme and variation