Understanding Music Exam 4

Verdi and Wagner

Both Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner were born in 1813. Each transformed the operatic traditions he had received from the past to create ne forms, and each became the musical symbol for his own country: Verdi for Italy, and Wagner for Germany.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

This Russian composer wrote operas in Russian based on works of Russian literature and also made use of Russian folk songs - but he was not as committed a nationalist as some of his contemporaries.

What are through-composed songs?

Through-composed songs are those in which the music is different for each stanza of the poetry.

As concerts moved from small halls to larger ones and audiences increased in size, orchestras became bigger, and instruments were adapted so that their sounds would be louder and carry farther.

True

Four works by Schubert?

1. "The Pretty Miller-Maid" (Die schone Mullerin, 1824) 2. "Winter's Journey" (Winterreise, 1827) 3. "Death and the Maiden" String Quartet 4. "Trout" Quintet

Name 2 BOHEMIAN nationalist composers

1. Bedrich Smetana (1824 - 1884) 2. Antonin Dvorak (1841 - 1904)

Name 2 FRENCH nationalist composers

1. Camille Saint-Saens (1835 - 1921) 2. Gabriel Faure (1845 - 1924)

Key Trends in the Nineteenth Century

1. Development of modern industry 2. Growth of democratic governments and national pride. 3. Increased emphasis on individual thoughts and feelings in the creative arts.

The sound of a Romantic work depends upon a number of other technical factors:

1. Dynamics 2. Tempo 3. Melody 4. Harmony 5. Form

Name 2 SCANDANAVIAN nationalist composers

1. Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907) 2. Carl Nielsen (1865 - 1931)

Name 2 SPANISH nationalist composers

1. Enrique Granados (1867 - 1916) 2. Isaac Albeniz (1860 - 1909)

The most important composers of the mid-Romantic period were?

1. Franz Liszt 2. Giuseppe Verdi 3. Richard Wagner 4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Three Types of Opera: From Grand to Simple

1. Grand Opera: Lofty subjects, grand productions 2. Lyric Opera: Stories of tragic love, full productions 3. Comic Opera: Humorous or happy subjects, simple productions

Key Themes of Romantic Music

1. Nature 2. The "exotic" and foreign 3. National themes 4. Extremes of emotion and scale 5. Individual feeling

During the mid-Romantic period, from the 1850's to the 1870's, the most important musical genres were:

1. Solo piano works 2. Symphonic program music 3. Opera

Voice was the central component of two other Romantic genres?

1. Song 2. Requiem Mass 3. Piano Quintet (Piano and String Quartet)

During the nineteenth century, there were three national schools of opera?

1. The French 2. The Italian 3. The German

COPYRIGHT

A fundamental principle was established at Berne, namely, that a published work (including a musical one) is protected under copyright during the author's or composer's lifetime and for 50 more years following his or her death.

Who constructed the first working piano?

About 1700, Bartolomeo Cristofori, an employee of the Medici Court in Florence, constructed the first working piano.

What is Absolute Music?

Absolute music is the term for music that has no meaning outside the meaning of the music itself and the feelings it producers in its listeners.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849)

Chopin was the first of the great piano virtuosos in the Romantic era. Most composers before Chopin played the piano, and many of them actually composed at the keyboard even if they weren't writing piano music. But after Beethoven, Chopin was the first important nineteenth century composer to achieve fame as a performing pianist, and almost all of his compositions are written for solo piano.

LISTEN: Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)

Duration: 10:37 Date of composition: 1885 Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four French horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, full string section Temp: Allegro energico e passionate ("Fast, energetic, and passionate") Meter: 3/4 Key: E minor This form is known as a passacaglia, a variation form that was popular with Baroque composers.

LISTEN: Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849)

Duration: 1:47 Date of composition: 1836 - 1839 Tempo: Largo ("Broad") Meter: 2/2 Chopin composed 24 preludes between 1836 - 1839. They follow the same idea as Bach's two sets of preludes and fugues, presenting all 24 major and minor keys of the scale system. THIS PRELUDE FEATURES AN ABA' STRUCTURE.

LISTEN: Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)

Duration: 1:48 Date of composition: 1817 Voice and piano Tempo: Etwas lebhaft ("Rather lively") Meter:2/4 Key: D flat major "The Trout," written to the poem of a German poet, Christian Friedrich Schubart, has been a favorite among Schubert's songs since its composition. In the third stanza, when the fisherman grows impatient and maliciously stirs up the water to outwit the trout, the music becomes more agitated and unsettled. After the fish Is finally hooked, the smoothing of the water's surface is represented by the return of the gentle "rippling" figure, which gives a sense of artistic unity and makes the song a highly organic work.

LISTEN: Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)

Duration: 2:59 Date of composition: 1838 Meter: 3/4 Key: F major This selection comes from Schumann's "Scenes form Childhood (Kinderszenen)" It is a simple accompanied melody, in an ABA' structure.

LISTEN: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805 - 1847)

Duration: 3:07 Date of composition: 1840 Tempo: Larghetto ("Fairly Slow") Meter: 4/4 Key: D major The "Songs Without Words (Lieder ohne Worte) were not published until after Fanny's death. The form is a typical one for a song: ABA. Throughout the piece, there is an accompaniment of gentle, repeated chords in the middle range, and slow, isolated bass notes.

LISTEN: Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)

Duration: 4:31 Date of composition: 1904 You will hear gorgeous soaring melodies and exotic "Oriental" sounds in this superb da cap (ABA) aria.

LISTEN: Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886)

Duration: 4:49 Date of composition: 1839 Tempo: Allegro agitato molto ("Fast and very agitated") Meter: 2/4 In this work, Liszt explores every possibility of demanding piano technique, including doubled octave passages, rapid skips, intricate bass tracery, fast runs, massive chords, and widely separated hands.

LISTEN: Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)

Duration: 5:15 Date of composition: 1888 - 1894 Alto voice; two piccolos, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, three clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, glockenspiel, two harps, and strings Tempo: Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht ("Very ceremonial, but straightforward") Meter: 4/4 Key of movement: D flat Major It is in five movements, and it traces a spiritual journey from death to resurrection.

LISTEN: Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)

Duration: 6:47 Date of composition: 1887 "Otello" was the last of Verdi's tragic operas. Inspired by Shakespeare's play "Othello," it has a libretto by Arrigo Boito.

The nineteenth century invented the idea of program music.

FALSE

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805 - 1847)

Fanny was four years older than Felix, and they were very close throughout their lives. Fanny was a talented pianist and a gifted composer, but her career as a composer illustrates the distance women still had to travel to achieve equal opportunity in the nineteenth century.

Who was the greatest composer of symphonic poems and programmatic symphonies in the mid-Romantic era?

Franz Liszt

Who wrote more than 900 works in his very short life? (He died at the age of 31)

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)

Who composed two highly original symphonic works: Harold in Italy, which was inspired by a reading of the Romantic poet Byron's Childe Harold, and Romeo and Juliet?

Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869)

How was the nationalist movement reflected in the arts?

In each country, the local language was fostered, books of national poetry were published, and intellectuals turned with increasing interest to the folk tales, dances, and songs of their native heritage.

During the nineteenth century, music became ________

More and more of a public concern.

Who was the author of the single most influential literary work of the nineteenth century, his long dramatic poem "Faust"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who was a poet, novelist, and dramatist.

Name 1 MORAVIAN nationalist composer

Leos Janacek (1854 - 1928)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)

Mendelssohn is one of the two composers in this period (the other being Gustav Mahler) who illustrate the uncomfortable position occupied by the Jews in the nineteenth-century Europe.

Name 1 RUSSIAN nationalist composer

Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881)

The French Revolution and the ensuing Romantic movement had further consequences in the nineteenth century. One of these being the growth of_____________.

Nationalism

Who was the great Italian violinist?

Nicolo Paganini (1782 - 1840)

Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)

Of all the early Romantics, Robert Schumann was the most imbued with a literary imagination. He as born in 1810 in a small German town. His father was a bookseller, so the young boy had unlimited access to the popular Romantic writings of the day.

What is Program Music?

Program music is music that tells some kind of story. It may be a love story, a spiritual journey, or scenes from nature, or a child's reverie.

Richard Wagner( 1813 - 1883)

Richard Wagner is a perfect example of the contradictions inherent in genius. His importance as a composer was enormous, and his writings on music, literature, and politics exerted a tremendous influence on artistic and intellectual thought throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. He wrote operas: "Rienzi," "Tannhauser" (1845), "Lohengrin" (1848).

What are strophic songs?

Strophic songs are those that use the same music for each stanza of the poetry.

Some women played an important role behind the scenes in the nineteenth-century musical life, either as hostesses of vibrant salons, where much music making took place, or as wealthy patrons of the arts.

TRUE

Until the end of the nineteenth century, American music and music making were still strongly influenced by?

The European tradition

Of all historical periods, it was the __________________ that most captured the imagination of the Romantics.

The Middle Ages

Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896)

The first part of Clara Schumann's life, from the age of 10 to the age of 36, was closely bound up with that of Robert Schumann and has already been partly described. There is no doubt that she both loved and admired her husband. He, in turn, was deeply in love with her and depended heavily on her for emotional support. Robert encouraged Clara's performing career, but in their relationship, his composing certainly took precedence over hers.

Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)

The greatest opera composer of the late nineteenth century was Gicaomo Puccini. He grew up in Lucca, a medieval town near the coast of Italy. Puccini came form a family of musicians, his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather were all composers. At 35, he produced the first of his string of immortal Romantic operas: "Manon Lescaut," based on a French love story. Followed by "La Boheme (1896)," "Tosca (1900)," and "Madama Butterfly (1904)"

What is a symphonic poem?

The link between program music and literature is particularly evident in a new genre: the symphonic poem. The symphonic poem is a relatively short orchestral work in one continuous movement, though it may fall into contrasting sections. Symphonic poems are always programmatic, though the source of the program need not be literary; it may be a painting or a scene from nature.

What is orchestration?

The technique of manipulating orchestral sounds is known as orchestration, and many Romantic composers were brilliant and sensitive orchestrators.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)

Verdi followed Nabucco with a string of wonderful operas. During the next 11 years, he wrote 15 operas, including "Rigoletto (1851)", "Il Trovatore (1853)", and "La Traviata (1853)"

The Ring Cycle

Wagner wrote the music AND the poetry for "The Ring" Wagner's dense network of LEITMOTIVS - musical phrases associated with objects, characters, events, thoughts, and feelings - adds meaning to the text and offers psychological insights into the characters and the reasons behind their actions.