Chapter 55: War is Hell: Berg and Expressionist Opera

Who of the following composers were students of Arnold Schoenberg? *Anton Bruckner *Alban Elfed *Alban Berg *Anton Webern

*Alban Berg *Anton Webern

Match the musical example to its correct part of Berg's Wozzeck. *3:45 portion *4:43 portion *1:30 portion *Act III, scene 4 (By the pond) *Act III, scene 5 (Children playing) *Orchestral interlude

3:45 portion: Orchestral interlude 4:43 portion: Act III, scene 4 (By the pond) 1:30 portion: Act III, scene 5 (Children playing)

The most commercially successful Expressionist composer in the first half of the twentieth century was _______.

Alban Berg

Who wrote the libretto to Wozzeck? a. Richard Wagner b. Alban Berg c. Arnold Schoenberg d. Georg Buchner

Alban Berg

Berg's opera Wozzeck is considered to be a(n) _______ work.

Expressionist

True or false: Alban Berg wrote only one opera, Wozzeck.

False

True or false: Alban Berg's use of harmony in Wozzeck is completely atonal.

False

True or false: Arnold Schoenberg was a student of Alban Berg.

False

In what language is Berg's Wozzeck sung?

German

Berg's music is rooted in the _______ Romanticism of Brahms and Wagner and the post-______ of Mahler, but is also influenced by the twelve-tone system devised by his teacher, ________.

German; Romanticism; Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern are known as the _______.

Second Viennese School

True or false: Berg uses Sprechstimme vocal style in his opera Wozzeck.

True

True or false: In Wozzeck, the title character has hallucinations and is the subject of experimentation by his superiors.

True

True or false: The play that inspired Berg to write Wozzeck is based on gruesome, real-life events.

True

Art is sometimes designed to a. All possible answers. b. evoke ideal beauty. c. shine a light on social problems. d. create a place of inspiration.

a. All possible answers.

Berg's Wozzeck is considered to be a(n) _______ work. a. Expressionist b. Impressionist c. Dadaist d. postmodernist

a. Expressionist

How did Berg die? a. blood poisoning from an infected insect bite b. lung cancer c. of old age d. killed in action during WWII

a. blood poisoning from an infected insect bite

Which of the following does NOT reflect Expressionism in Wozzeck? a. children play on hobbyhorses b. characters who were utterly powerless to control the world around them c. focus on human foibles and depravity d. disturbed man moves between reality and hallucination

a. children play on hobbyhorses

Which does NOT describe Berg's musical style? a. rooted in French Impressionist traditions b. leaned toward formal structures of the past c. rooted in German Romanticism d. drew on twelve-tone system

a. rooted in French Impressionist traditions

Berg's Wozzeck was inspired by which? *Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale *Wagner's Ring cycle *Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake an Expressionist play by Buchner

an Expressionist play by Buchner

Although Berg's Wozzeck is primarily _______ in harmony, it also anticipates _______ and looks back to the _______ tradition.

atonal; twelve-tone serialism; tonal

Which musical element is present in Wozzeck? a. use of leitmotifs b. Sprechstimme c. All possible answers. d. passionate lyricism

c. All possible answers

Which does not occur in the Wozzeck story line? a. Marie is unfaithful to Wozzeck. b. Wozzeck drowns. c. Wozzeck and Marie get married. d. Wozzeck cuts Marie's throat.

c. Wozzeck and Marie get married.

The orchestral interlude before the last scene in Wozzeck a. foreshadows music for the sequel. b. contains lighthearted music setting up the children's scene. c. is a passionate lament for the life and death of Wozzeck. d. prepares the audience for the wedding scene.

c. is a passionate lament for the life and death of Wozzeck.

Why were Berg's works banned in Germany during WWII? a. Berg was Jewish. b. Instruments were not available for performance. c. Music was too difficult to distribute during the war. d. Twelve-tone works were alien to the spirit of the Third Reich.

d. Twelve-tone works were alien to the spirit of the Third Reich.

Where was Alban Berg born? a. Paris b. Berlin c. Venice d. Vienna

d. Vienna

Twelve-tone technique a. is a form with twelve distinct sections. b. modifies tonality to include twelve notes in a scale. c. is a compositional style developed by twelve modernist composers. d. arranges twelve chromatic pitches, each carrying equal weight.

d. arranges twelve chromatic pitches, each carrying equal weight.

Which description does not apply to Berg's Wozzeck? a. Expressionist b. modernist c. avant-garde d. post-Impressionist

d. post-Impressionist

Match the characteristics of Act III, scene 5 (Children playing in front of Marie's house) from Berg's Wozzeck to their correct musical elements. *tonal and atonal *conjunct *dissonance *use of Sprechstimme *metric and free-flowing *harmony *rhythm *melody

harmony: tonal and atonal; dissonance rhythm: metric and free-flowing melody: use of Sprechstimme

In Berg's opera Wozzeck, the main character's final breakdown is the result of which? *seeing his best friend murdered *having killed his lover *having killed the Drum Major *having killed his son

having killed his lover

Match the name of the compositional technique/idea to the definition. *inversion *retrograde inversion *tone row *retrograde *the original row is turned upside down and backwards *the pitches of the original row are in reverse order *the notes in the series move in the opposite direction of the original row *an arrangement of twelve pitches in serial composition

inversion: the notes in the series move in the opposite direction of the original row retrograde inversion: the original row is turned upside down and backwards tone row: an arrangement of twelve pitches in serial composition retrograde: the pitches of the original row are in reverse order

Match the characteristics of Act III, scene 4 (By the pond) from Berg's Wozzeck to their correct musical elements. *use of Sprechstimme *conjunct *dissonance *metric and free-flowing *tonal and atonal *melody *harmony *rhythm

melody: use of Sprechstimme harmony: dissonance; tonal and atonal rhythm: metric and free-flowing

What genre is Berg's Wozzeck?

opera

Another term to describe Schoenberg's twelve-tone compositional method is _______.

serialism

The final scene of Wozzeck revolves around which? *the children's discovery of the murder *the Doctor and the Captain discovering the murder victim *a confrontation between Wozzeck and the Drum Major *Wozzeck's rehabilitation

the children's discovery of the murder

When Hitler came to power, the works of the _______ composers were banned in Germany.

twelve-tone