Unit 3 Music History

John Phillip Sousa

-1854-1932, USA -in 1879 appointed conductor of the U.S. Marine band -in 1892 founded his own professional band -considered the most famous band conductor & composer of all time -known as the "March King"

Arnold Schoenberg

-1874-1951 -continued along the path of German classical tradition -felt that the next step in its development was atonality -developed the 12-tone method

Stars and Stripes Forever

-John Phillip Sousa, 1897 -March for wind band -written for a concert performance, not a parade, so it doesn't include a da capo -Form: 2 sections, march & trio -dog fight -likely the last piece he conducted

West End Blues

-King Oliver, 1928 -blues/new orleans jazz -follows 12-bar blues form -virtuosic trumpet solo replaces piano intro

Rapsodie espagnole, I. Prelude a la nuit

-Maurice Ravel -orchestral suite in 4 movements -shows Spanish influence throughout -4 note ostinato throughout. 2 duo-cadenzas

Peter Grimes: Act III, Scene 2, To hell with all your mercy!

-opera, Benjamin Britten, 1944-45 -premiered a month after the war ended -story from poem The Borough by George Crabbe -Peter Grimes is a fisherman who goes mad. everyone is mean to him bc he's different

The Unanswered Question layer 3

-woodwinds -atonal -represents an attempt to answer the trumpets question -each answer is different & sounds increasingly agitated -final statement of the question remains unanswered

Stravinsky's ballets

1. Firebird 2. Petrushka 3. The Rite of Spring -all 3 were commissioned by Russian ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev -all 3 draw on Russian culture

ultramodernism

20th century style that breaks away as much as possible from traditional musical approaches

expressionism

20th century term derived from art, in which music avoids all traditional forms of "beauty" in order to express deep personal feelings through exaggerated gestures, angular melodies, and extreme dissonance EX: Wozzeck

Non-retrogradable rhythm

A rhythmic palindrome (a pattern of note durations that is read or performed the same either forwards or backwards)

sprechgesang

"speech song"

George Gershwin

-1898-1937 -born in Brooklyn -composed classical music & popular songs & musicals -older brother Ira Gershwin wrote most of his lyrics

2. Stravinsky's Neoclassical period

-1919-1951 -abandons his nationalist style & features classical, Baroque & tonal elements in his compositions. launched by his ballet Pulcinella

Wozzeck, Op. 7: Act III, Scene 2 & 3

-Alban Berg, written in 1917-22, premiered in 1925 -expressionist opera -atonal -3 acts, each with 5 scenes -Wozzeck is a poor soldier who submits to doctor's experiments for money, he kills his wife Marie bc she has an affair with the Drum Major -uses Leitmotifs throughout

Jennifer Higdon

-American, b. 1962 -musical style is a blend of modernism & neo-romanticism

Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

-Krzysztof Penderecki, 1960 -tone poem for string orchestra -calls for 24 violins, 10 violas, 10 cellos, 8 basses -initially titled 8'37 -distinct timbres throughout the work delineate 5 main sections -developed his own notation system for this work

Serge Rachmanioff

-Russian, pianist & composer, 1873-1943 -did NOT introduce new harmonies like his fellow contemporaries did. -instead, wrote unconventionally within a Romantic style

John Adams

-b. 1947 -American composer -minimalist composer

whole-tone scale

-six-note scale each pitch of which is a whole tone away from the next -exotic scale used in Debussy's compositional style

sprechstimme

"speaking voice," the singer does not sing in the usual sense, but declaims the text by speaking on pitches, creating a spoken melody

first generation of modernist composers

Claude Debussy Maurice Ravel Serge Rachmaninoff Alexander Scriabin

"Cool" WWS Form/Style

First Section- angular, disjointed melody. prominent tritones. Second- Fugue (m.43) dance number for Jets, high hat throughout denotes cool jazz, fugal entrances are at the interval minor 3rds, rather than standard 4th or 5th

12-tone method

a compositional process based on the systematic ordering of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale

arch form

a sectional structure, based on repetition in reverse order for example ABCBA EX: Symphony, Op. 21

indeterminacy

an approach to composition in which the composer leaves certain aspects of the music unspecified, such as choice of pitches, orientation of score, order of pages, tempo

postwar jazz

bebop, free jazz, establishment of jazz standards

new orleans jazz

follows one of three forms: -12-bar blues -16-bar ragtime strain -32-bar popular song form (AABA)

les six

group of French composers who championed the French neoclassical style, included Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, and Arthur Honegger

atonality

music that deliberately avoids establishing a tonal center

ragtime

-"ragged time" -syncopated rhythm against a regular, march like bass -this syncopation & emphasis on offbeats in one layer reflects "the complex cross-rhythms common in African music" -similar to March form

Charles Ives

-1874-1954, USA -considered 1st modernist American composer -combines modernism w/ American vernacular music & Protestant church music -by end of his career, he was one of America's leading composers

Bela Bartok

-1881-1945, Hungarian -nationalist composer -piano virtuoso and ethnomusicologist -moved to NY bc of increased threat of Nazis -in 1904 he started collecting recordings of folk songs

Igor Stravinsky

-1882-1971, Russian -worked with the Russian ballet in Paris -compositional style is in 3 periods

Anton Webern

-1883-1945, studied with Schoenberg in Vienna in 1904 -his works tend to be short -had strong opinions about the evolution of music

Alban Berg

-1885-1935 -studied w/Schoenberg in Vienna in 1904 -his music is atonal and often uses the 12-tone method -Berg's music is considered more approachable than Schoenberg's, and uses more expressive gestures and recognizable styles

Heitor Villa-Lobos

-1887-1959, Brazilian -most important Brazilian composer from this period -combined traditional Brazilian elements w/modernist techniques -lived in Paris from 1923-1930

Paul Hindemith

-1895-1963, German composer, violinist, violist, & conductor -compositional styles include: late Romantic, Expressionism, New Objectivity -moved to the U.S. in 1940 -many of his works were banned under the Nazi gov

William Grant Still

-1895-1978, USA -first African American to: -conduct a major symphony orchestra (LA Phil) -have opera produced by major opera company in US -wrote in a wide variety of genres -known as "dean of African American composers"

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington

-1899-1974, born in DC -band leader & composer -one of the most important jazz composers -nickname "Duke" because of his "regal bearing" -won 13 grammy's

Ruth Crawford Seeger

-1901-1953, American -1st woman to win Guggenheim Fellowship -modernist composer -developed theory of dissonant counterpoint with her composition teacher Charles Seeger, whom she married in 1932 -devoted much of her time to preserving and recording American folk songs

Dmitri Shostakovich

-1906-1975, Soviet Union -in the 1920's wrote modernist music -1934 premiere of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was successful until '36 Stalin saw it & was "angered by its discordant modernist music" -after that bad review, he only made music that pleased party bosses

John Cage

-1912-1992, American -avant-garde composer -around 1940 invented prepared piano -championed compositional approach known as indeterminacy

Benjamin Britten

-1913-1976, English -influenced by humanitarian concerns -music was a plea for tolerance -lead tenor roles were written for Peter Pears

Leonard Bernstein

-1918-1990 -born in Massachusetts -well known as a conductor/composer of classical & Broadway music -one of the most important American musical figures of the 20th century

swing & the big band era

-1920's-30's -performed in larger spaces, such as supper clubs, ballrooms, auditoriums, & theaters -band's divided into 3 sections: brass, reeds, rhythm (piano, drums, guitar, double bass)

3. Stravinsky's Serial period

-1953-1971 -adopted the 12-tone method

impressionism

-19th century term used for music that invokes moods and visual images through colorful harmony and instrumental music -"sought to capture atmosphere and sensuous images, adopting a stance of detached observation rather than direct emotional engagement" -Claude Debussy was an impressionist

Nocturnes: No. 1, Nuages

-3 movements, symphonic poem -for orchestra & harp. large wind section, few brass -title inspired by series of impressionist paintings entitled Nocturne -movements evoke scenes that are ordinary & mysterious -English Horn solo is based on octatonic scale -could be interpreted as ternary form

pentatonic scale

-5 note scale -exotic scale used in Debussy's compositional style

Symphony, Op. 21

-Anton Webern, 1927-28 -12 tone work -symphony with only 2 movements -1st movement: sonata form -2nd movement: theme & variations -shows influence of classical & Renaissance traditions -exposition presents two simultaneous cannons in inversion

Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, III. Adagio

-Bartok, 1936 -symphonic suite -4 movements: fast fugue, fast sonata form, slow arch form, rondo -strings, harp, piano, xylophone, snare drum, tam-tam, timpani, bass drum, & celesta -fugue theme from 1st mvmt appears in every mvmt

"Cool" from West Side Story, Act I, No. 8

-Bernstein, 1957, musical -lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents -Sharks vs. Jets -"an out-and-out plea for racial tolerance" -incorporates jazz, latin, and classical music -in "Cool", the Jets, led by Riff, attempt to calm themselves before the 'rumble'

Back Water Blues

-Bessie Smith, 1927 -Genre: blues -Great Flood of 1927 -7 stanzas -standard blues form: AAB -harmonic structure: follows 12-bar blues structure

La Creation du Monde, Op. 81a: First tableau

-Darius Milhaud, 1923, ballet -overture followed by 5 tableaux -Classical elements: winds, strings, percussion -Jazz elements: sax, no viola!!, lots of piano & percussion, string are one to a part -first tableau is divide into 3 sections 1. Fugal exposition (m. 1-23) 2. Superimposed layers (m. 24-45) 3. Combo of first 2 sections (m. 46-59)

Cotton Tail

-Duke Ellington, 1940 -jazz (contrafact) -harmonic progression is from chorus of "I Got Rhythm" -melody & chords are shown on a lead sheet -begins with a statement of Ellington's tune -followed by 5 choruses

Maurice Ravel

-French composer 1875-1937 -referred to as "assimilator" bc his works often draw on many influences -many of his works are neoclassical

"I Got Rhythm" from Girl Crazy

-George Gershwin, Broadway show song, 1930 -lyrics by Ira Gershwin -melody composed 1st, then lyrics added -in standard Tin Pan Alley form: verse plus 32-bar chorus, phrases in chorus follow AABA' form

Neue Sachlichkeit

-German, "new objectivity" or "new realism" or "new matter of factness" -movement that occured in Germany in the 1920's -opposed complexity & promoted the use of familiar elements -avoided the extremes of expression found in Romantic music

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: I, Aria (Cantilena)

-Heitor Villa-Lobos, 1938 -solo soprano & orchestra of cellos -every movement title has 2 parts: a traditional Baroque genre & a Brazilian national genre -Ternary form (ABA') -singer vocalizes on "ah", hums, & sings text

The Unanswered Question

-Ives', 1906-1908 -tone poem for chamber orchestra -unusual instrumentation: strings, 4 or 2 flutes, oboe, & clarinet. trumpet or english horn/oboe/clarinet -instruments operate in 3 layers throughout the entire work

blue cathedral

-Jennifer Higdon, 2000 -single-mvmt orchestra work -commemorates her brother who died of cancer -"a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky" -flute solo in beginning reps Jennifer Higdon, clarinet solo enters second represents her brother -3 distinct sections

Doctor Atomic, Batter My Heart

-John Adams, opera, 2005 -about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led U.S. efforts to develop an atomic bomb during WWII -librettist: Peter Sellars -sings about being deeply conflicted about unleashing the power of an atomic bomb

Sonata and Interludes: Sonata V

-John Cage, 1946-48 -suite for prepared piano -consists of 16 sonatas & 4 interludes -piece requires 45 "preparations" -notation indicates what note to play, but not what kind of sound will come out -binary form

Quartet for the End of Time

-Olivier Messiaen, 1940-41 -written during WWII in POW camp in Germany -instrumentation: violin, clarinet, cello, piano -8 movements -sacred music even tho no text -refers to Biblical prophecy of the Apocalypse -instrumentation varies in each mvmt. each instrument plays in 6 mvmts total

Music for Symphony Mathis der Maler, II. Grublegung

-Paul Hindemith's, written 1933-34 -symphony in 3 mvmts. -based off his opera Mathis der Maler -form: ABA'C -neotonal: uses open 5ths & octaves, quartal harmonies, dissonances of 2nd & 7th -pervasive rhythm throughout

Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23, No. 5

-Rachmaninoff -solo piano -OG a freestanding work, then he added 9 more preludes to it. -ternary form -at the beginning, both hands play the melody & accompaniment

Alexander Scriabin

-Russian, 1872-1915 -pianist & composer -more harmonically adventurous than Rachmaninoff -absorbed the chromaticism of Wagner & elements of exoticism, especially unusual scales -referential chord -believed music should offer a transcendental experience to the performer/listener

String Quartet 1931, IV. Presto possibile

-Ruth Crawford Seeger, 1931 -composed during yr she was in Berlin & Paris on Guggenheim Fellowship - 4 movements -modernist work -palindromic from beginning to end

Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, No. 8 & 13

-Schoenberg, 1912 -composed @ the request of Albertine Zehme, who wanted accomp. over which she could recite poetry -song cycle for speaker & chamber ensemble -21 songs in the cycle -text by Albert Giraud -_____= moonstruck pierrot -pierrot is a clown who suffers from visions of a moonbeam that takes many shapes -sprechstimme/sprechgesang

second viennese school

-Schoenberg, Berg, Webern -had a huge amount of influence on the composers after them

Maple Leaf Rag

-Scott Joplin, 1899 -rag for solo piano -named after Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri -most famous piano rag in history -over 1 million copies sold; 1st piece by black composer to sell so well -form: AABBACCDD, no introduction

Vers la flamme, Op. 72

-Scriabin -tone poem for piano -"toward the flame" suggests a journey toward enlightenment -increases in activity/dynamic level/register.. striving to reach a "transcendental climax" -based on octatonic scale -begins with referential sonority

Symphony No. 5, Op. 47: Second movement, Allegretto

-Shostakovich, 1937 -written in wake of the extremely negative review of his opera -inspired by Mahler's symphonies -scherzo & trio -ternary form

Rite of Spring

-Stravinsky, 1911-13 -ballet -an adolescent girl is chosen to dance herself to death as a sacrifice to the god of spring -after the premiere there was a riot over the choreography. now it's performed w/o dancing -it contains dissonant harmonies

Scott Joplin

-Texarkana, TX 1868-1917 -African American, son of a former slave -leading ragtime composer

Afro-American Symphony (Symphony No. 1)

-William Grant Still, 1930 -1st symphony by a black composer performed by a major orchestra -traditional 4 mvmt structure: 1. sonata form 2. slow 3. scherzo 4. fast finale

the next generation of modernism is

-active in the years immediately before WWI -created a more radical break from the musical language of the past -embraced post-tonality

music between the wars: Soviet Union

-after 1917 revolution, all musical institutions were nationalized -concert programming was strictly regulated by gov. -1933 Union of Soviet composers was formed

music between wars: France

-after WWI there is a "anti-German sentiment" -French nationalism became very popular & French neoclassical style emerged -les six

Arnold Schoenberg's compositional style

-began writing tonal music in the late Romantic style -felt that increased chromaticism of late Romantic music weakened the pull of the tonic -in 1908, moved towards atonality

why write in an avant-garde style?

-challenges accepted aesthetics -invites listeners to focus on what is happening in the present -dismisses concept of permanent classics

Quartet for the End of Time, I. Liturgie de cristal (Crystal Liturgy)

-clarinet & violin play bird calls -cello repeats same 5 notes thru whole mvmt -piano repeats series of 29 chords -cello plays non-retrogradable rhythm

postwar classical music

-continuation of classical tradition, avant-garde, serialism, non-western styles, electronic music -composers sought to create new sounds using traditional media

Joe "King" Oliver

-cornetist -helped develop New Orleans jazz style

Claude Debussy's style

-forms are less defined -dissonances don't need to resolve -parallel motion -frequent change of timbre and color -use of exotic scales like whole-tone, octatonic, pentatonic

neoclassicism

-popular genre in the early 20th century. composers imitated, revived, or evoked styles, genres, and forms of pre-Romantic music -Maurice Ravel

Bessie Smith

-referred to as the "Empress of the Blues" -most successful African American musician of the 1920s

octatonic

-scale that alternates whole and half steps -exotic scale used in Debussy's compositional style

Afro-American Symphony, I. Moderato assai

-sonata form, but w/a sense of arch form -order of themes is reversed in the recapitulation, creating ABCBA form Elements of African-American music: -12-bar blues melody in trumpet (m. 7-18) -syncopation -call-and-response texture -lowered 3rd, 5th, & 7th scale degrees in melody -instrumental timbres (Harmon mutes in trumpets) & groupings

The Unanswered Question layer 1

-strings -tonal, begins in G major -no rests -sustained chords -plays thru 3 cycles of one chord progression

tin pan alley

-the name of a district on West 28th Street in New York City where many publishers of popular songs were located. emerged in the 1880's. -1920-1955 is considered the "golden age" of tin pan alley -____form: verse plus 32-bar chorus, AABA'

The Unanswered Question layer 2

-trumpet -atonal -plays the same 5 note figure every time it enters -5 notes represent the unanswered question "What are we here for?" -states question 7 times -pitches & rhythms clash with tonal string layer

modernism

-twentieth-century composers who broke away from the musical language of their predecessors -inspired by art -goal is no longer to please audiences but rather challenge them

1. Stravinsky's Russian period

-up to 1918 -many of his works rooted in Russian folklore & Russian folksongs

12-bar blues form

AAB harmonic structure EX: Back Water Blues

32-bar song form

AABA' EX: I Got Rhythm

referential chord/sonority

Alexander Scriabin developed his own harmonic vocabulary, often creating ____ for each work that serves as a tonic chord EX: Vers la flamme, Op. 72 in the beginning

modernism: the next generation

Arnold Schoenberg Alban Berg Anton Webern Igor Stravinsky Bela Bartok Charles Ives

retrograde

Backward statement of a previously heard MELODY, passage, or TWELVE-TONE ROW.

chorus

complete statement of the harmonic progression with improvised solo(s) overtop EX: Cotton Tail

Little Johnny Jones

considered the first American musical (1904)

post-tonality

harmonic language that moves beyond tonality; includes tonality

serialism

music composed in the 12-tone method; used especially for music that extends the same general approach to series in parameters other than pitch EX: Pierrot Luniare

avant-garde

music that seeks to overthrow established aesthetics

minimalism

musical style in which materials are reduced to a minimum & procedures simplified so that the musical content is immediately apparent

vernacular music

musical traditions outside of the concert hall and opera house that generally reached a broader audience

contrafact

new melody written over a harmonic progression borrowed from another song EX: Cotton Tail & I Got Rhythm

symphonic poem

one-movement programmatic work for orchestra EX: Debussy's Nocturnes No. 1 Nuages

prepared piano

piano in which various objects (screws, bolts, pieces of rubber, pennies) are placed between the strings, resulting in new & complex sounds

dog fight

section that features short alternations between high & low instrument groups, usually found in the middle of the trio EX: Stars & Stripes Forever

blues notes

slightly lowered or "sliding" notes that add emotional intensity, usually on scale degree 3, 5, or 7