Transcript Music Apprec

Choral and Dramatic
Music in the Nineteenth
Century
Choral Music
“The oldest, truest, most beautiful organ of music, the origin to which our music
owes its being, is the human voice.”
Richard Wagner
 Grew in popularity with the middle class
Low cost
Social outlet
 Most popular genres were:
Part songs (unaccompanied secular songs in 3 or 4
parts
Oratorio—Dramatic composition based on a text of a
religious or serious character for solo voices, chorus and
orchestra
Mass—Musical setting of the “service” of the Roman
Catholic Church [including the Requiem Mass (for the
Dead)]
Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem
1868
Requiem (A Mass for the Dead)
Meant to console the living
Chose his own text from the Old and New
Testament: from the Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah,
and Ecclesiastes AND from Paul, Matthew,
Peter, John, and Revelation
A German Requiem: FORM
Seven movements:
One
Two
Three
-----------------------------------------------
Seven
Six
Five
 FOUR AS CENTERPIECE
 “How Lovely is They Dwelling Place (from Psalm 84)
 ABACA (Rondo)
Opera
Opera
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Large-scale music drama that combines
poetry, acting, scenery, and costumes with
singing and instrumental music
Parts of the Opera
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Overture (before the show)
Solo arias (songs)
Recitatives (speechlike)
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Secco (dry) or accompanied
Ensemble numbers (more than one person)
Choruses (a whole bunch of people!)
Libretto – The TEXT!
More than you want to know . . .
but if you do, check out p. 170
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Different “types of operas” from different
countries
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Grand opera – serious, historical with spectacular
effects
Opera comique – comical, with spoken dialogue
Lyric opera – combination of the two above
Singspiel – light, comical, with spoken dialogue
Opera seria – serious
Opera buffa -- comic
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
 Wrote 28 operas
 Requiem
 Extremely successful
 (Even held a political
seat in parliament)
 Aida (one of the most
famous)
 Rigoletto (another)
A Little Rigoletto
The Duke
Gilda – Jester’s Daughter (dies at the end!)
Rigoletto – The Jester
Sparafucile – An assasin
Maddalena – Sparafucile’s sister
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
“Looms as the single most important phenomenon in the artistic life
of the later 19th century.”
 Revolutionary!
 Wrote literary works
 Gesamptkunstwerk -- A
total work of art unifying
all elements
 Music dramas (Not
sectional, but continuous)
 Leitmotifs – Motives that
represent something or
someone
 Use of chromaticism
 THE RING OF THE
NIBELUNG
The Ring of the Nibelungen
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Endless melody (continuous)
Orchestra had a role
Leitmotifs (suggested a character, an object,
a landscape, an emotion)
A complete, complex story: a cycle of four
dramas
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The Valkyrie, Act III: Finale
The Ride of the Valkyries
http://www.carolinaclassical.com/articles/wagnervalkyries.html
Valkyrie
 A Valkyrie is a corpse goddess, represented by the
carrion-eating raven. The name in Old Norse,
valkyrja, means literally, "chooser of the slain."
 The leader of the Battle Valkryies was Brunehilde, made
popular by Wagner in his music. Brunehilde answered to
the goddess Freyja who is also the goddess of love,
fertility, and beauty. The Valkyries also share the folkloric
motif of the swan maidens , young girls who are able to
take on the form of a swan. If you could capture and hold
a swan maiden, or seize her feathered cloak, you could
make her grant your wish.
The Valkyrie (Second in a cycle of 4)
Finale of Act III
Wotan, father of the gods
Brűnnhilde, his favorite daughter
Listen for continuation of music
Chromatic
4 recurring themes (leitmotifs): slumber, magic
sleep, magic fire, and Siegfried