Music and the Humanities Final Exam Review
Final Essay Question: Pick a composer and talk about how their life/music was influenced by social or political realities of the time (Classical, Modern, or Romantic era)
Example: Amy Beach wasn't allowed to be a musician professionally due to a promise to her family.
Sonota Form: 3 Main Parts, How are they different?
Exposition, Development, Recapitulation
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (Piece to know)
Fate knocking at the door
Haydn
Father of the symphony and string quartet
American Composers known for using Jazz elements
Gershwin, William Grant Still, Aaron Copland
Size of orchestra by era
Grows from Baroque to Modern
Classical Era Composers
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
Program Music
Instrumental music that portrays nonmusical things through music (Examples: Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream; Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet)
Haydn: Emperor Quartet (2nd Movement)
Known for theme and variations; Theme = birthday song for emperor
Romantic Era length of pieces
Longer and shorter than classical; more variety in length
Do classical composers prefer major or minor keys?
Major keys
Neoclassicism
Modern composers playing at Baroque or Classical textures such as Mozart
Dynamics in Romantic Era V.S. Classical Era
More extreme in general; Louder and Softer
How is rhythm in the Classical era different from the Baroque era?
More variety within each movement and rhythmic energy
Nationalism
Music brings in 'national' or 'ethnic' or 'local' musical elements or folk music
Fortepiano
New classical instrument
Atonal
No key center
What is the Perrot Lunaire by Schoenberg piece about? (Has a clown singing...)
BONUS QUESTION
Whole Tone Scale
Claude Debussy used it
Verdi's Regoletto (Piece to know)
Count is revealing his shallow view of women
Electronic Music
Created on computers or synthesizers; composer gets to control every single facet of every single sound
Impressionism
Debussy
Dvorak's New World Symphony (Piece to know): What instrument is playing in given section?
English Horn
Recapitulation
Themes are returned to bring a sense of closure to the piece
Stravinsky
Three Periods: Russian, Neoclassical, Serial
Beethoven
Transitional figure between classical and romantic eras
Exposition
Two contrasting themes are introduced in a Sonota
Development
Variations and explorations in different keys
Hub of Classical Era (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven)
Vienna, Austria
Jazz
A new 20th century style of music characterized by improvisation, freedom, and African-American dance music
Melody of Chopin's D minor prelude
Agitated, Asymmetrical, Wide Range
Serial Music (Serialism)
All musical elements determined by patterns/series (bleep bloop kind of music (controlled chaos))
Wagner (Essay Question)
One controversy and one contribution Controversies: Most beloved composer of Hitler, Anti-Jew, Operas were really long without set musical numbers without interruption (really exhausting) Contribution: Exploring extreme chromaticism without a tonal center, Leitmotif (smaller occurring theme in a piece)
Non-Diagetic Music
Only the audience can hear it
Diagetic Music
People in a movie can hear it
Debussy (Piece to know)
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Modulation
Process of changing key/tonal center
Rondo Form
Refrain, repeating, alternating with contrasting episodes (ABACA, ABACADA, or ABACABA)
Schubert
Remembered for Art Song/Lieder
Mozart
Remembered for operas
Chopin
Remembered for virtuosic piano music
Minimalism
Repetition of short melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic patterns with little variation
Innovations in 20th Century that influenced music
Sampling, computers, electronics; Widespread music education; Recording technology; Movies
Sprechstimme (talk/singing)
Schoenberg
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1st Movement)
Serenade for strings in sonata form
Four Postmodern Genres
Serial Music (Serialism), Chance Music, Minimalism Music, Electronic Music
Orchestration
Skill of writing for orchestra; each instrument is given it's own musical line
Chance Music
Some element of creation is left up to chance (bleep bloop (less controlled chaos))
Schubert's Erlkonig (Piece to know): Who is singing?
Son singing to father (same person using different voices)
Ballet Russes - Which composer?
Stravinsky
Chopin Prelude in D minor (piece to know): What is this moment called when the music speeds up?
Stretto
Stravinsky (Piece to know)
The Rite of Spring
Melody
series of single tones that add up to a recognizable whole
Form
shape
Tempo
speed of music