MUS review
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Le sacred du Printemps), Part I, excerpts
-Date: 1913 -Genre: Ballet (often performed as a concert piece for orchestra) -Basis: Scenes of pagan Russia -Scenario: Nicholas Roerich and Igor Stravinsky -Choreography: Vaslav Nijinsky -Sections- • Part I: Adoration of the Earth, Introduction, Dance of the Youths and Maidens, Game of Abduction, Spring Rounds, Games of the Rival Tribes, Procession of the Stage, Dance of the Earth • Part 2: The Sacrifice, Introduction, Mystic Circle of the Adolescents, Glorification of the Chosen One, Evocation of the Ancestors, Ritual Action of the Ancestors, Sacrificial Dance -Performed by: Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
-Date: Composed in the 1840s, arrangement from 1911 -Genre: Spiritual -Performed by: Fisk Jubilee Quartet
Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag
-Date: Published 1899 -Genre: Piano rag -Performed by: Scott Joplin
Igor Stravinksy (1882-1971)
A Russian composer who used irregular rhymes during the 1920's
Jazz
A musical style created mainly by African Americans in the early twentieth century that blended elements drawn from African musics with the popular and art traditions of the West.
camp meetings
African Americans and European Americans alike gathered to sing hymns of praise, to popular or folk tunes of time
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Austrian composer; leader of the 2nd Viennese school: Invented serialism same as 12 tone system; wrote Pierrot Lunaire Landmark piece of music moonstruck Pierrot.
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Composer and master of ragtime who considered the genre serious music; introduced ragtime to national audiences at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, seeking to elevate African American music and secure a broad national audience
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunar, Part III, No. 18
Date: 1912 Genre: Song cycle (21 songs, 7 each in three parts( • Part I: Pierrot, a sad clown figure, is obsessed with the moon, having drunk moon wine; his loves, fantasies and frenzies are exposed • Part II: He becomes ridden with guilt and wants to make atonement • Part III: He climbs from the depths of depression to a more playful mood, but with fleeting thoughts of guilt; then he becomes sober Performed by: Lucy Shelton, soprano; Da Capo Chamber Players, Oliver Knussen, conductor
Berg: Wozzeck, Act III: scene 4, interlude, scene 5
Date: 1917-22; premiered 1925 Genre: Opera, in three acts Basis: Expressionist play by Georg Buchner Characters: Wozzeck, a soldier (baritone) • Maria, his common-law wife (soprano) • Marie and Wozzecks son (treble) • Captain (tenor) • Doctor (bass) • Drum-major (tenor) Performed by: Walter Berry (WOzzeck), Albert Weikenmeier (Captain), Karl Donch (doctor); Paris National Opera Orchestra and Children's Chorus, Pierre Boulez, conductor
Holiday: Billie's Blues
Date: Recorded 1936 Genre: 12-bar blues Performed by: Billie Holiday, vocal; Bunny Berigan, trumpet; Artie Shaw, clarinet; Joe Bushkinm piano; Dick McDonough, guitar; Pete Peterson, bass; Cozy Cole, drums
Strayhorn: Take the A Train, by the Duke Ellington Orchestra
Date: Recorded February 15, 1941 Genre: Big-band jazz Performed by: Blanton-Webster, Duke Ellington, director
Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929)
Director of the Ballet Russe, which was made up of dancers from the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg in Russia.
Avant-garde
French term that refers to new styles and techniques in the arts, especially in the 20th century
John Philip Sousa
Greatest bandmaster and composer. Fostered the American wind band tradition, an outgrowth of the British military band
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Known at first for producing popular songs and musicals with his older brother Ira, Gershwin successfully melded jazz and popular music with classical forms, most famously the Rhapsody in Blue (1924), the Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra (1925), and the folk opera Porgy and Bess (1935), based on a story by DuBose Heyward. Gershwin's first major hit was 1919's "Swanee," sung by Al Jolson, and his 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing was the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Gershwin died of a brain tumor at age 38.
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunar, Part III, No. 18 What to listen for:
Melody: Disjunct line, quasi-speechlike (sprechstimme) Rhythm/meter: very fast, sounds free-flowing Harmony: harshly dissonant Texture: complex counterpoint with canonic (strict imitative) treatment Form: rondeau text with poetic/musical refrain Timbre: pointillistic, with flickering instrumental effects (Klangfarbenmelodie) Performing forces: voice with five instruments (piccolo, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) Text: 21 poems from Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunar, all in rondeau form
Tin Pan Alley
Nickname for the popular music industry centered in New York from the nineteenth century through the 1950s. Also the style of popular song in the United States during that period.
Arnold Schoenberg major works
Orchestral music, including Five Pieces for Orchestra, Variations for Orchestra, and two concertos • Operas • Choral music, including the cantata A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) • Chamber music, including four string quartets, string sextet Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899) and Pierrot lunar (1912) • piano music
Igor Stravinsky major works
Orchestral music, including Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) and Symphony in Three Movements (1945) • Ballets, including L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird, 1910), Petrushka (1911), Le sacred du Printemps (The Rite of Spring, 1913), Agon (1957) • Operas including Oedipus Rex (1927) • Other theater works, including L'historie du sold (The Soldier's Tale, 1918) • Choral music, including Symphony of Psalms (1930) and Threni: Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah (1958) • Chamber music • Piano music • songs
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974)
Pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader; widely regarded as one of the most important American musicians of the twentieth century. As a composer and arranger, he devised unusual musical forms, combined instruments in unusual ways, and created complex, distinctive tone colors.
Ring shout
Religious dance of African American slaves, performed with hand clapping and a shuffle step to spirituals.
Scott Joplin major works
Stage works, including two operas (Treemonisha, 1911) • Piano rags, including Maple Leaf Rag (1899) and Pine Apple Rag (1908) • Piano music • songs
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
What to listen for: Melody: "Gapped" pentatonic, limited range, paired open and closed phrases Rhythm/meter: Duple meter, with some triplets; flowing with flexible syncopations Harmony: Simple and mostly diatonic Texture: Homophonic, with clear lead singer Form: Strophic, with first stanza serving as a refrain Expression: Straightforward delivery of lyrics and repetitive harmonization Text: Elaboration of II Kings 2, 11 Performing forces: TTBB male quartet
Berg: Wozzeck, Act III, scene 5: children playing in front of Marie's house
What to listen for: Melody: "Off-key" children's song, then speech like lines; disjunct, "jumping" melody from Marie's son Rhythm: Lilting 12/8 meter, then pulse is more obscured Harmony: Sweetly dissonant Expression: Quietly surreal closing, powerfully emotional Timbre: Children's voices accompanied by colorful orchestra
Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag
What to listen for: Melody: Catchy, syncopated, disjunct melodies Rhythm/meter: Marchlike duple meter; syncopated in right hand, steady beat in left hand Harmony: Major key; shifts to a new key in C section (the trio); decorative rolled chords Texture: Homophonic; chordal accompaniment to the melody Form: dance made up of four sections (strains), each 16 measures and repeated: A-A-B-B-A-C-C-D-D Performing forces: Joplin plays on a 1910 Steinway piano roll
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Le sacred du Printemps), Part I, excerpts Introduction (closing measures)
What to listen for: Melody: Disjunct, floating, folk-song melody Rhythm/meter: Free shifting meter; the four-note rhythmic idea establishes a duple pulse Expression: Haunting mood, represents awakening of the earth; very slow tempo (lento) Timbre: High-range bassoon with solo clarinets, pizzicato strings
Strayhorn: Take the A Train, by the Duke Ellington Orchestra
What to listen for: Melody: Disjunct, syncopated themes with call-andresponse exchange between instruments Rhythm/meter: Broad quadruple meter, at a moderate tempo; syncopated rhythms, short riffs (repeated phrases) Harmony: Complex, advanced harmonies; chromatic; modulates to another key Form: 32-bar song form (A-A-B-A) for each of three choruses, with introduction and coda Expression: Animated movement with special jazz effects (bent notes, shakes, glissandos) Timbre: Big-band sound, with reed, brass, and percussion sections Performing forces: Jazz big band (trumpets, trombones, saxophones, piano, guitar, bass, drums): soloists: Duke Ellington (piano), Ray Nance (trumpet)
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Le sacred du Printemps), Part I, excerpts Dance of the Youths and Maidens
What to listen for: Melody: Russian folk-song melodies alternate with non melodic sound blocks Rhythm/meter: Basic duple pulse with irregular accents; constant eight-note motion Harmony: Dissonant chord (polytonal) repeated over and over; sound blocks Texture: Dense, complex polyphony Form: Sectional, with opening section recurring several times (A-B-A-C-A-D-E-F-G-A-F) Expression: Forceful, with high energy and changing dynamics Timbre: Changing instrumental colors throughout Performing forces: Huge orchestra with expanded brass, woodwind, and percussion sections
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Part I, excerpts Game of Abduction
What to listen for: Melody: Scurrying melodic figures and horn calls, brief folk tune Rhythm/meter: Fast tempo, meter not established; unpredictable accents Harmony: Harshly dissonant, crashing chords Texture: Dense, with shifting activity Expression: Frenetic and primitive mood Timbre: Quickly shifting instrumental colors
Holiday: Billie's Blues
What to listen for: Melody: Syncopated melodies with pitch inflections; free improvisations Rhythm/meter: Slow tempo, 4/4 meter; steady rhythmic accompaniment under more complex, flexible solo lines Harmony: Repeated harmonic progressions for each chorus (I-IV-I-V-I) Texture:Polyphonic, with countermelodies against a solo voice or instrument Form: 12-bar blues (introduction and six choruses; choruses 2, 3, 6 are vocal) Expression: Laid-back feeling, different moods in the solos Performing forces: Holiday, vocal, with trumpet, clarinet, piano, guitar, string bass, and drums Text: Chorus 2 is a typical blues text; the others are more free
Berg: Wozzeck, Act III: Scene 4: By the pond
What to listen for: Melody: Use of Sprechstimme (speech like melody); disjunct line Rhythm/meter: Movement alternates between metric and free-flowing Harmony: Both tonal and atonal language: dissonant and chromatic Expression: Intensely emotional vocal line; supported by dissonance ad surging dynamics Timbre: Eerie mood created by a celeste and unusual instrument combinations; colorful orchestral effects
Berg: Wozzeck, Act III, orchestral interlude in D minor and scene 5
What to listen for: Rhythm/meter: very slow tempo Harmony: Lush, chromatic chords; a dissonant climax Timbre: Strings, then brass, woodwinds, and timpani in a forceful climax
Bebop
a complex and sophisticated type of improvised jazz
Blues
a genre based on three-line stanzas set to a repeating harmonic pattern, was an essential factor in the rise of jazz
New Orleans Jazz
a style of jazz that originated in that city shortly after 1900, involving a syncopated, improvisatory style of playing built on the tunes and harmonies of blues, parlor songs, rags, and marches
Expressionism
a style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world.
Ragtime
an African American piano style characterized by syncopated rhythms and sectional forms, made famous by Scott Joplin, the "King of Ragtime"
Vaudeville
combined all kinds of comedic theatrical and musical act, many written by immigrant composers and often satirizing new immigrants in ways similar to the portrayal of African Americans in minstrelsy
Work songs
communal songs that synchronized the rhythm of work
Piano roll
early form of musical playback technology
Atonality
music that lacks a tonal center, or key
Sprechstimme
speechlike melody
