Transcript Section I - Arizona Academic Decathlon

Elements of Music Literacy
Todd Decker
Section I
Music
• Sound organized in time
• Many kinds of sounds
• Composers/organizers
– 19th century
– Hero/artist
– Harness forces of nature; turn them to his will
– CONTROL!
• Solo performer—virtuoso
THE ELEMENTS OF SOUND
or, catch the wave, dude
• Frequency vs wavelength (pitch)
– how fast a wave oscillates; rate
• Amplitude/wave height (loudness/dynamics)
– how loud—how much air is moved
• Waveform (Tone Color or Timbre)
– fundamentals and overtones
• Envelope (Articulation)
– Initiate (or attack), sustain, release
• Duration
– How long a pitch lasts
U.S. Navy F/A-18 breaking the sound
barrier
Sound Waves
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9GBf8
y0lY0
Elements of Sound in the Romantic Era
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Technological advances
improvements in instrument manufacture
standardization in tuning systems
Orchestration
– Mix of instruments (see Berlioz)
• Size of orchestras increase
– from 40 to more than 100
– Mega-concerts
Frequency/Range
• Range of instruments increase
significantly
– Mozart Piano: five octaves
– Beethoven Piano: six octaves
– Modern Piano: seven and a half octaves
• Instrument families or “choirs”
– Developed to play a combined range of more
than four octaves
– Saxophone, oboe/bassoon, and clarinet
“families” were invented or perfected in the
Romantic era
Frequency/Range
• What’s your pitch?
– Fastball, curveball, slider, knuckleball
• If the catcher doesn’t know what’s coming, LOOK OUT!
– One player’s change-up is another player’s
fastball
• system of equal temperament or tuning
– Allowing touring musicians to play with local
musicians and have everyone on the same page,
so to speak
– Now, if we could just get umpires to have equal
tempered strike zones . . .
Amplitude/Dynamics
• Technology alters dynamic control, allowing
for more contrast in Loud and Soft parts
– Musicians can do more
– Enabling composers to do more
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ff – Fortissimo
f – Forte
mf – mezzo-forte
mp – mezzo-piano
p – piano
pp – pianissimo
Timbre
• New instruments were invented:
– saxophone, tuba, the valve trumpet, the rotary
valve horn, the Wagner tuba, the modern
piano, and even the accordion
Sonata for Arpeggione by Franz
Schubert
• Schubert was nick-named
“Schwammerl” (tubby) by
his friends
Arpeggione -- six-stringed instrument
tuned like a guitar, but bowed like a
cello
– with friends like that, who
needs enemies?
– Did not have a piano of his
own
– Did not have a place of his
own, so he stayed with
friends (after spending most
of the night out drinking in
cafés)
– It all worked out; “Tubby”
liked to put on a good show
• Schubertiaden—evenings
sponsored by Schubert’s
friends in which nothing but
his music was performed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P_5mEVDOxg&feature=related
Articulation
• Can a piano imitate an orchestra?
• Can music sound evil? Good? Macabre?
• Can you play like she sings?
– Cantabile (violins “singing” like in Solveig’s
Song)
• Expression marks:
• http://www.halfstepup.com/articles/express
ive-markings-performance-terms
• Music expresses feelings—specific
Duration
• Metronome
– Johann Maelzel’s company built first massmarket metronome in 1816
– Produces a steady beat
• Tempo—rate of the beat
– 60 beats per minute vs 120 beats per minute
vs . .
– Specific m. m.—metronome markings for use
in standardization
• It’s still up to the performer and/or conductor
Temporal Organization in Music
Temporal Organization in Music
• Duration – the length of
time a sound lasts
• Rhythm – a series of
durations
• Beat – a steady series of
durations, usually of the
same length
• Tempo – the speed of the
beat
• Meter – grouping of beats
usually into 2 (duple), 3
(triple), or 4 (quadruple)
• Measure – one unit of the
prevailing metrical grouping
• Syncopation
– emphasis on a beat that
conflicts with the established
grouping;
– emphasis in between beats
• Subdivision – division of beat
duration into two (simple time)
or three (compound time)
equal parts
• Anacrusis – any duration(s)
that come(s) before the first
beat of a measure
• Time (Meter) signature –
indicates how many beats are
in a grouping (measure) for a
given piece and what type of
duration serves as the beat
Temporal Organization in Music
• simple time signatures (meters)
– each beat is divided into two equal components
– the note that gets one beat has to be an undotted
note
– the top number is not divisible by 3 except when it is
3
– the number of beats is the same in every measure
• 3/4 time
– 3 beats to a measure
– 1/4 (quarter) note gets a beat
• 2/4 time
– 2 beats to a measure
– 1/4 (quarter) note gets a beat
• 4/4 time is so standard or typical that it is normally left off the
staff—if it’s not there, it is assumed to exist
– Like the 2 that isn’t there with the square root (radical) sign
Temporal Organization in Music
• compound time signatures (meters)
– the top number is evenly divisible by 3, unless the
top number actually is 3
– the beat is a dotted quarter note or three eighth
notes
– each beat is subdivided into three components
• 6/8 time is very typical
– 1/8 note gets a beat, 6 per measure
– ONE two three FOUR five six/etc. (used in mariachi music)
• 12/8 time (found in 12-bar blues and doo-wop music)
– Four beats in a measure (crazy, I know . . .)
– Dotted quarter note receives the beat (do the math . . .)
» Quadruple compound
» Subdivisions
The Keyboard, Half Steps Whole Steps
flats sharps naturals accidentals
intervals half steps or semitones
half step + half step = whole step
Scales –
arrangement of pitches
• patterns of intervals
– whole steps and half steps
• diatonic – of the tonic
• chromatic (colored) – from outside the tonic
• major: w-w-h-w-w-w-h (2½ , 3½)
Minor Scales
• Natural minor (in folk music, the Aeolian scale)
• w-h-w-w-h-w-w (1 ½, 2 ½, 2)
• A-minor:
Scale Degree Hierarchy
• Scale degree 1:
• Scale degree 7:
step)
• Scale degree 6:
• Scale degree 5:
• Scale degree 4:
• Scale degree 3:
• Scale degree 2:
• Scale degree 1:
tonic
leading tone (when half
submediant
dominant
subdominant
mediant
supertonic
tonic
Harmonic and Melodic Minor
• harmonic minor
– augmented second between scale degrees 6 & 7
– creates a true leading tone for scale degree 7
– can sound awkward; so, sometimes composers
go further and raise the 6th degree by a half step
as well, creating . . .
• melodic minor
– raised sixth and seventh scale degrees on the
way up
– alterations are removed on the way back down
NATURAL MINOR
HARMONIC MINOR
MELODIC MINOR
Key Signatures
• serve as a sign of the altered notes
needed to conform to the scale of the key
E major scale on a keyboard (left), E major scale on a staff
without key signature (center), and E scale on a staff with
key signature (right).
Relative and Parallel Keys
• Major and minor scales that contain the same
pitches are said to be relative like
– B-flat major & G minor
– C-natural minor and E-flat major
– relative keys have the same pitches, but different
tonics
• Major and minor scales that orient around the
same tonic pitch are called parallel scales
– Same tonic, but because of the difference in
pattern between major and minor, they contain
different pitches
Relative major and minor
1 ½, 2 ½, 2
2 ½, 3 ½
Relative major and minor. C-natural minor (left) and E-flat major (right).
Other Key Relationships
• Before the Romantic era, composers limited key
changes within pieces to relative, parallel, and
other “closely related” keys
– keys with one flat or sharp more or less than tonic
• G major and F major are closely related to C major
• G major has one more sharp
• F major has one more flat
• Romantic era composers explored more distant
key relationships like mediant-related keys
– Keys whose tonic pitches are a major or minor third
away
• D major and F major
• D major and B major
• D major and F-sharp major
Other Scales
• medieval and Renaissance approx. 1300-1650
• Dorian (raised 6th scale degree)
• Phrygian (like nat. minor with lowered 2nd
degree)
• Lydian (like major with a raised 4th degree)
• Mixolydian (like major with a lowered 7th degree)
• folk/traditional music that romantic composers
would make reference to (in a musical way) later
Other Scales
• chromatic
– all twelve pitches within the octave
– all half steps
• whole-tone
– six pitches
– all whole steps
• pentatonic
– Five tones (pitches)
– formed by removing the half step pairings
Intervals
http://method-behind-the-music.com/theory/intervals
Intervals & Harmony
• see Table 1-1, page 14, USAD Music Guide
• major triad – error in guide; fifth should read third
– major third + minor third – Perfect
• minor triad
– minor third + major third – Perfect
• diminished triad
– minor third + minor third
• augmented triad
– major third + major third
Figure 1-7, page 14
Root chords, third chords, fifth chords, seventh chords—lots of stuff we could spend
the entire semester on.
Any chord built using notes from outside the great diatonic scale is a chromatic
harmony. Ex: secondary dominant, page 15. G-major, dominant chord is D major.
So . . . If D-major was the tonic, A-major would be the dominant. So, A-major is
secondary dominant of V in G major. Using this is temporarily tonicizing the chord,
and creates tension.
It’s like dating your 2nd cousin—this creates tension in the family; more on tension in
a moment—aren’t you relieved?
Tension and Release in Music
• Think of watching someone as they are in
the process of losing their balance and it
looks like they may fall and get hurt in the
process. The more it looks like they are
going to fall, the more you feel tense;
when they regain their balance, that tense
feeling you had goes away, and you feel
relieved—hence, your tension is released!
– Youtube or video example here!
http://cnx.org/content/m11953/latest/
Tension and Release in Music
• Dissonance
– notes that clash
– seconds, sevenths, or any augmented or
diminished intervals
• Consonance
– notes that sound “good” together
– unisons, thirds, fifths, sixths, and octaves
• Fourths can go either way depending upon
context
• Harmonic progression
– Movement from stability to instability and back
again
Tension and Release in Music
• authentic cadence
– When dominant 7th chord resolves to the tonic
– cadence – “to fall”
– “falling” from tension (7th chord) to stability (tonic
chord) – I feel so much better now!
• Think of a good movie, or good novel, etc.
You get all revved up because of the tension,
and you feel really good when the tension is
released and you are no longer on the edge
of your seat
• half cadence – appears as a V (dominant)
chord at the end of a phrase
Elements of Music
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Articulation
Duration
Dynamics
Form
Harmony
Melody/Line
Meter
Notation/Terminology
Scales
Texture
Timbre
Tonality/Pitch Centricity
Elements of Music in Context:
Mazurka, Op.67, No.2 Frédéric Chopin
• Page 17. Play piece and watch the notes
go by while learning/reading about boxed
sections
Section II
Section II – Program Music
Introduction: Historical Context
Rise of the Individual
• Rejection of “absolute” systems
– Political orders, religions, royal authority
– Individual worth—what a concept!
• Now I gotta go find myself
• Realize your destiny
• Each individual must find their path to fulfillment
• Luke Skywalker; Darth Vader; Destiny;
Redemption; Science & Technology vs.
Mysticism
The Pendulum Swings
• Dark ages, enlightenment, science,
romance
– We’re all on a roller-coaster ride of ups and
downs, ins and outs, science and mysticism
• The very advances brought on by science
(food production, transportation of goods,
waste treatment, disease control, access
to clean water, etc.) made more leisure
time
– Time to contemplate, explore, and create
Urbanization, Nature, and
Beyond
• Workers move to cities; large workplaces;
individual “cogs” in a large machine driving
capitalism
– Longing for countryside/fascination with nature
• Picnics; camping trips; city parks; country homes; fresh
air; sunshine; peaceful surroundings
• Nature the real-deal; truth; enlightenment; spirit of life
– Move away from artifice of society; journey back to nature;
reconnect with your “self”
• Explore the supernatural
– Mysticism, the macabre, reality-altering substances (i.e.,
drugs)
– Ancestral tales, myths, customs
Role of Artist in Society
Rise of the artist as individual
• “a composer or performer’s individual feelings,
interpretation, and expression were considered
paramount . . . hoping to contribute something to the
infinite and the unknowable, somehow gifting their
times as well as posterity with a glimpse of the
eternal”
• By the mid nineteenth century, there was a
widespread feeling that instrumental music had
reached some sort of closure
• classical forms of instrumental music(binary, ternary,
sonata, rondo) seemed restrictive and impinged
upon artists’ freedom to express themselves
Unity Across the Arts
• looked to extra-musical sources for
inspiration
– Poetry, theatre, literature, painting, dance,
and the expression of nature or the
supernatural became a new inspiration and
formal guide for many composers
– sometimes direct (storm, footsteps, bouncing
head)
– sometimes indirect (imaginative suggestion)
Absolute vs Program music
• E.T. A. Hoffmann and Arthur
Schopenhaurer (and many others) on the
absolute side
– music of the highest sort is “pure”
instrumental music; transcendental qualities
are dimmed by association with text, poetry,
story lines. etc.
• Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert (and many
others) on the Romantic (programmatic)
side
Franz Liszt (1811–86)
• good looks, magnetism, power,
colossal technique, unprecedented
sonority
– “I have heard no performer whose
musical perceptions so extend to the
very tips of his fingers.”
• Felix Mendelssohn
• composer, conductor, critic,
littérateur, Don Juan, abbé, teacher,
symbol
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY
M84n-2Sas
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m
R4RwrfUg0&feature=related
Franz Liszt
• born in Raiding, Hungary
• playing piano by age 7, composing at 8
• influenced by Berlioz, Paganini, Chopin
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wTlGN_bmzE&feature
=related
• his programs were very calculated
– Until 1839, followed the conventional format for concerts
• sharing time with other artists or orchestra
– realized it should be all about himself!
• called his solo appearances soliloquies
• later called recitals—which is what we call solo performances
today!
– long hair, profile performance, hands high, showmanship,
gloves, affairs (the women swooned when they heard him
play),
Franz Liszt – the grand old man
• always expected to be treated as
an equal with royalty
– no back-door entrances for him!
• Young composers from all over
Europe brought him their music
– Grieg, Smetana, Borodin, RimskyKorsakov, Balkirev, MacDowell,
even Brahms
• although Liszt and Brahms had a big
falling out over the direction music
was going in—Brahms won the battle,
Liszt won the war
Ludwig van Beethoven
• Born in Bonn
• played violin & piano
• mom died when teen; dad
goes on a bender
• moves to Vienna in 1792
– studies with Haydn
– destined to be the next
Mozart
• Kind of like Kobe or Lebron
destined to be the next Jordan
• 1801, at age 31, going deaf;
almost completely deaf by
1814—age 44
Ludwig van Beethoven and His Sixth
Symphony (Pastoral)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiCJjD5bXXQ (music with
scenes to get you in the mood)
• 1808 – composed 6th Symphony (middle period)
– Middle period: large-scale pieces, extended forms, moved into
Romanticism
– anticipates the genre of tone poems
• past emotions evoked by scenes of nature
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5478661
I. Awakening of Cheerful Feelings upon Arrival in the Country
II. Scene at a Brook
III. Happy Gathering of Country Folk
IV. Thunderstorm; Storm
V. Shepherd’s Song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the
storm
Pastoral—4th movement
• in F minor (Allegro)
• movements 3, 4, and 5 all play without a
break between
– 4th is sometimes referred to as the intro. to 5th
– 5th is in parallel key of F major (Allegretto)
• view link while reading analysis on pages
26
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVdVuskkKU
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-47)
• pianist, musicologist, organist, conductor,
composer
• wealthy, conservative family
– born in Hamburg, lived in Berlin
– anti-Semitic surroundings
– loved sister (Fanny), who was a pianistcomposer, too
• took the Grand Tour from 1829-32
– Influenced by what he saw, wrote many
descriptive pieces:
• Italian Symphony, Scottish Symphony, etc.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrNPZ7cV-xc
• http://movieclips.com/yXM8-breaking-away-moviechasing-a-truck/
Fingal’s Cave
• while on the Grand Tour visited the Hebrides
off the coast of Scotland
• Fingal’s cave on island of Staffa
• Refuge of Finn McCool, a mythical Irish
warrior-leader
• two contrasting themes
– 1st: low strings and bassoons (the cave)
• main motive is six notes long—repeated softly as an
echo from within the cave
– 2nd: violins (rolling, crashing waves of the sea)
• Rises and falls in pitch and dynamics—just like the
waves
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyZ5cHUaiBI&feat
ure=related
Bedřich Smetana, Nationalism, and Die
Moldau (Vltava)
• born in 1824 in Prague, Bohemia (now, Czech Republic –
violinist, pianist, composer – all at a young age
– forced to leave homeland after abortive 1848 uprising (Austria had
moved in); moved to Sweden
– came back in 1862 when political climate improved
• Má Vlast (My Country) – six symphonic poems (like Liszt),
each depicting a person or place of historical significance to
Bohemia
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Vyšehrad – The High Citadel
Vltava – The River Moldau (“Die Moldau” in German)
Šárka – legendary female warrior
Z Českych Luhůa Hájů – From Bohemia’s Meadows and Forests
Tabor – a Hussite stronghold
Bláník – a mountain in southern Bohemia; Hussite analogue of
Valhalla
Vltava – Die Moldau
1874
• Moldau fed by two streams (warm & cold)
– represented by flutes, clarinets (inverted melody)
• upper strings (violins, violas) & oboes enter as main Vltava theme
• the two stream motives are combined in the low strings (cellos,
basses) to form the river Moldau
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdtLuyWuPDs&feature=related
• passes hunting party (French horns)
• passes wedding (cue polka music)
– strings, clarinets, bassoons at first; full orchestra later; then dies out
as river moves on
• Night falls
– Bassoons and soft strings; flutes as water nymphs
• St. John rapids
– Brass section; dissonance; lively scales in strings
• River flows into Prague; Vltava theme comes back BIG; river goes on
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)
• Finnish nationalist composer
– played violin, piano, taught himself composition
• left law school to study music full time
• 1890’s nationalist movement as protest
against Russian domination (this, after
centuries of Swedish domination)
• Bourgeois elite speak Swedish; peasants
speak Finnish
– although upper-class and Swedish-speaker,
Sibelius interested in Finnish mythology (as well
as Finnish girls)
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)
• studies in Berlin, then Vienna
• inundates himself with Finnish culture
– Finnish literature, poetry, folk music
– epic poetry (trochaic tetrameter)
• DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da
• did not directly quote folk melodies; sought to
capture the underlying spirit and character
• 1893-1897 composed the Lemminkainen Suite
– four-movement symphonic poem based on the
Finnish national epic Kalevala
• Epic? How about 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs?!
• originally conceived as a mythological opera, like Wagner’s
Ring
• later changed to an orchestral piece in four movements
• also can be considered a collection of symphonic poems
The Lemminkäinen Suite, or
Four Legends from the Kalevala
• Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the
Island:
• The Swan of Tuonela: was 3rd, changed
to 2nd
• Lemminkäinen in Tuonela: was 2nd, now
3rd
• Lemminkäinen's Homeward Journey:
The Lemminkäinen Suite, or
Four Legends from the Kalevala
• The Swan of Tuonela:
– The tone poem is scored for a small orchestra of oboe,
cor anglais, bass clarinet, bassoon, 4 horns, 3
trombones, timpani, bass drum, harp, and strings (no
flutes or trumpets)
– Swan swims in the Black water Tuoni River (it is Hell,
after all)
– English horn (cor anglais) as the Swan
• 5th lower than oboe, more nasal timbre
• switching back and forth with solo cello; conversation-style
(antiphonal texture)
• muted strings accompany the lead melody
– timbres are subdued, dark, warm, rich
– Decker note: muted strings & muted brass in various
places throughout (USAD Guides does not mention
this)
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAmi6WIfuU&feat
ure=related
Program Music—The Supernatural as
Inspiration
• Paul Dukas (1865-1935)
– Paris Conservatoire at 16; keen sense of
orchestration; interested in a range of extramusical subjects:
• History, philosophy, politics, literature
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (L’Apprenti
sorcier)
– A symphonic scherzo (sprightly & humorous)
based on Der Zauberlehrling (by Goethe) which
was based on a Lucian dialogue
• Lucian was an Assyrian writer from the 2nd Century
A.D.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSTWy25h
RiI&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_mXhdPq
MmI&feature=relmfu
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921)
• composer, virtuoso pianist, organist, and writer
• first formal piano concert at age 10
– played Mozart & Beethoven from memory
– Gounod described him as “the French Beethoven”
• 1848 – Paris Conservatoire (age 13)
– also studied French lit, religion, Latin, Greek, math,
astronomy, archaeology, and philosophy
• As a very young boy, Camille Saint-Saëns was
fascinated by all kinds of sounds. He loved to listen to
clocks chiming, doors creaking, and especially to the
sound of a large kettle boiling.
• When he was only 2 ½ years old, he began playing his
great-aunt’s piano. He loved the sound of each note,
letting it die away before playing another. His great-aunt
gave him his first piano lessons and by age five, he was
playing “serious” music by great composers.
Danse macabre (1874)
• Symphonic poem (tone poem; same diff.)
• Death (as skeleton) plays violin in graveyard
– let’s dance to death!
– bubonic plague (Black Death of 14th century)
• ever dance around a maypole to Ring around the Rosy?
• popular kids song back in the “olden” days
• Originally based on poem by Henri Cazalis
– Reworked so that musical imagery reflects the text
• first Frenchman to compose a work in this genre
Dance macabre (Dance of Death) by
Henri Cazalis
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Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence,
Striking with his heel a tomb,
Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,
Zig, zig, zig, on his violin.
The winter wind blows and the night is dark;
Moans are heard in the linden-trees.
Through the gloom, white skeletons pass,
Running and leaping in their shrouds.
Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking.
The bones of the dancers are heard to crackBut hist! of a sudden they quit the round,
They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.
Danse macabre
• solo violin, xylophone (represents skeletons)
• violin E-string tuned down a half-step to E-flat
– Scordatura – mis-tuning
– Diminished fifth (between A and E-flat) allows
player to use open strings for a brighter sound
• devil’s interval
• in G-minor; G Phrygian scale (like natural
minor, but 2nd degree of A-flat)
– flute introduces this idea
Danse macabre
• Melodic minor scales ascend with raised 6th &
7th degrees and descend lowered back down
– descending melodic minor contains same pitches
as natural minor
– Note use of E-nat, F-sharp, F-nat, and E-flat
• Much of the drama of the piece is created
through interplay of these melodic ideas and
the scales they come from
Danse macabre -- Form
• tolling of the bells (12 for midnight)
• tritone idea
– cellos and basses, then solo violin
• 1st melody played by flutes
• solo violin introduces 2nd idea (melody)
• next section (for 80 seconds) alternates (in various forms) between
the two ideas
• Decker note: The broad waltz theme in the Danse macabre may be
recognized as a variation on the Dies irae, the ancient liturgical chant
for the dead
• Return of devil’s interval
• Decker note: I hear the strings playing colegno here
– USAD guide does not mention this
• imitative passage (at 2:10); overlapping themes
– 2nd “b” theme, reworked in “frenzied distorted fashion”
– solo violin returns with more lyrical version of tune
– “a” idea (flutes) almost completely absent
– the two main themes combine and are played at same time
– at dawn, all of the demons go back to their graves
Danse Macabre
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Sequence of things happening in Danse with instrument indicated:
Clock strikes midnight (harp)
Death tunes his violin (violin)
The dance begins, one skeleton appears (flute)
More skeletons are dancing
The xylophone makes the sound of dry bones (xylophone)
The wind blows through the dark trees (string instruments)
The skeletons laugh as they dance (violins)
Mysterious moans come from the trees (string instruments)
The dance reaches its loudest and fastest point (all)
A rooster crows (oboe)
The dance ends, all the skeletons return to their graves
Some people think the last two notes of the piece represent the last
two coffin lids quietly slamming shut for another year
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdLoTPUNtD0
Hector Berlioz and
Symphonie Fantastique
• Unlike most composers, he had no instruction on piano and did not
use the keyboard to help compose at age 13
– Played flute, guitar
• age 17 entered medical school in Paris
– Paris is a great place to get side-tracked!
– switched to music at the Conservatoire in 1826
• 1827 – saw Hamlet performed; was struck by the “veracity of
dramatic expression and freedom from formal constraints”
– became OBSESSED with Harriet Smithson, who played Ophelia
• his Ophelia, or Juliet, or Desdemona
– spent two years CONSUMED with his desire to be with Harriet, who
was at a high point in her career, while Berlioz was a nobody; that soon
changed, as her career went down as his went up
– “the idealized relationship of which Berlioz dreamed proved to be far
different from the real thing, as Harriet Smithson was not a perfect
amalgamation of stylized theatrical heroines.”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlI3zZk5UGI&feature=related
• http://www.keepingscore.org/interactive/berlioz-symphonyfantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
• is an embodiment of the composer’s
overwhelming obsession, love, and
frustration, borne from this short-lived and
disenchanting romance
• is also an excellent example of the
composer’s talent for orchestration even
though this was his first symphony
• Beethoven’s 3rd and 5th inspired Berlioz
– freedom of expression & power of instruments
– wrote Treatise on Instrumentation
(Orchestration)
Symphonie Fantastique
• An Episode in an Artist’s Life
• five movements:
– Dreams, passions – an allegro with a slow
introduction
– A Ball – a waltz
– Scene in the Fields – a slow movement
– March to the Scaffold – a march
– Dream of the Witches’ Sabbath – a finale
Symphonie Fantastique
• idée fixe (obsession)
– recurring theme associated with the “beloved
image”
– Manipulated & developed as the artist’s
experiences alter his obsession
Idée fixe
Symphonie Fantastique
• written in “cut time” or 2/2 time
– Most typical meter for a march; footsteps
– sometimes written in 2/4 or 6/8 (duple meter)
• like Danse macabre, 4th movement uses two themes
in alternation to tell story
– serious theme 25 seconds into movement
– Very specific dynamic indications; three sequential
repetitions in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th measures; melody has
downward contour—hinting at where our hero is ending
up . . . or down!
• 2nd theme, about 90 seconds into
movement
– Bombastic
• Bitter irony to its spirited lilt
– Once again, avoids strong emphasis on the
first beat of some measures
– Accent on off beat of measure one
– Final arrival on an off beat
• Serves to keep the music off-balance
• Almost a feeling of stumbling to his doom
• Feeling grows greater as theme moves forward;
syncopations are more insistent
Robert Schumann
• father was a bookseller, publisher,
lexicographer, novelist
• gifted singer; composing at 7; studied piano
– later on, also flute, cello
– first public performance (on piano) at 11
• wrote songs (lieder) – words were important
to his music
• 1828 – entered law school, never went to
class
• Studied piano with Friedrich Wieck, living at
his house in Leipzig
– became transfixed with music of Schubert
Robert Schumann
• influenced by literary works of Jean Paul
Richter and E.T.A. Hoffmann
– concepts like Doppelganger, split-self
– Jean Paul wrote, “Sound shines like the
dawn, and the sun rises in the form of sound;
sound seeks to rise in music, and color is
light.” He also said that it is music alone
“which can open the ultimate gates to the
Infinite.” He also said, “So life fades and
withers behind us, and of our sacred and
vanished past, only one things remains
immortal—music.”
Robert Schumann
• invented a society known as the Davidsbund
– the band of David; gave pen names to members
– Schumann had two names:
• Florestan, reflecting the exuberant side of his nature,
and also the virtuoso performer
• Eusebius, the reflective side, also a cleric/writer/scholar
– Friedrich Wieck was Meister Raro
– Clara was Cilia or later, Chiara
– Schumann would have loved to play D&D or
WOW
• all of the Davidites were leagued together to
combat the Philistines, those unimaginative
hacks who immersed themselves in safe
music
Robert Alexander Schumann
• performing is out; messed up fingers
– either with his contraption (chiroplast) or because of
mercury in syphilis medications
• music critic/editor/publisher
• lengthy court battle to win Clara from father
– it took years; lots of bad press, bad will, etc.
• it worked out; they had eight kids
– five survived childhood—times were tough
– Robert and Clara really loved each other, but Clara
had to bring home the money because Robert had
some very real (and sad) mental issues
• early in 1852 he went through an entire week during which
he said that angels were dictating music to him while devils in
the form of hyenas were threatening him with Hell
– Clara was the first hugely successful female virtuoso
Schumann’s Music
• made the other romanticists look boring
• his 1st published composition appeared in
1831
– the Abegg Variations—he constructed the theme
on the letters of a girls name
• before marrying Clara, Robert loved Ernestine
von Fricken
– Carnaval, or “Dainty scenes on four notes”, is
derived from the name of her hometown, Asch
– the German word for carnival is fasching
– the whole thing is quite cryptic:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnaval_(Schumann)
Robert A. Schumann’s
Carnaval
• A cycle of 21 short pieces, each with a
descriptive title representing a
masquerading character in a Carnival
celebration
– Clara (pre-marriage), Chopin, Wieck, Paganini,
Mendelssohn, and others, including, of course,
his alter-egos, doppelgangers, split-self, E. and
F.
Eusebius (introvert, cleric) -- #5 of
21
• Key of E-flat major, 32 measures long, each line of this
musical poem is four measures long
– a, a, b, a, b, a, b, a; climax coming with second “b, a” section
• adagio (pensive and sensitive), starts slow, gets slower,
melody begins with septuplets in six of the first eight
measures (in 2/4 time!)
– imagine dividing a pizza into four slices, with two slices on
each plate (or measure); now, each set of two slices has to
be divided between seven people
– later on, the quarter note beat is divided into five parts
followed by division into three parts
• just thinking about trying to do this makes me uncomfortable!
• this creates discomfort because of syncopation and also because
people are generally fraction phobic
– at the same time, it also has an ethereal, or dreamlike
quality to it . . . it floats
• maybe because you’ve given up all hope of understanding the
meter, and have resorted to dreams
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eQpSPmrWu0
Florestan (extrovert, virtuoso) #6
• Key of G minor; 56 measures long
• Fiery, flamboyant, volatile, manic – passionato
– alternates between fast and slow (adagio)
– 3/4 time
• Tempestuous
– nine distinct moments of tempo change
– piece is going faster at end, and leaves you hanging
• Moves between frenetic outpourings and
occasional moments of light playfulness
– Papillons (butterflies) – quoting Op. 2 piano work
• Enjoy knowing where the tonic is, but don’t visit too
often
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BXd-juglKw
Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907)
• Norwegian; mother concert pianist; Edvard
started lessons at 6; at 15, composing
– 1857 entered Leipzig Conservatory as pianist
• which he found pedantic*
• Graduated, but went back home to Bergen
– performed Beethoven, Schumann, and his own
compositions
• Copenhagen—cultural hub of Norwegian and
Danish society
– studied under Niels Hage
– met Nina Hagerup: vocalist, 1st cousin, future
wife
Edvard Grieg
• raised in Danish culture and traditions
• 1864 – engaged to Nina -- married in 1867
– Mother’s brother’s daughter
– In the summer of 1869, Grieg's daughter Alexandra
became ill (cerebrospinal meningitis) and died, at the age
of 13 months; she was their only child
• visited friends in Osterøy
– introducing him to traditional songs of Norwegian peasants
• 1865 – met Norwegian nationalist composer Rikard
Nordraak
– composer of the Norwegian national anthem
– this influenced Grieg to write Romantic Norwegian
Nationalistic music
Edvard Grieg
• 1874, Grieg in demand
• Writes incidental music for Peer Gynt
– a play written by Henrik Ibsen (an author we studied
about 10 or 12 years ago in ACADEC)
– took a lot more time than Grieg thought
• Peer Gynt is a LONG story
– Short gist of story: Peer Gynt has several
misadventures, tries (and is successful) in seducing
numerous women, including daughter of a troll king
(never piss off a troll), and is finally held accountable
for his life and bad decisions. Solveig (a character
who waits the whole play for Peer to come to his
senses and come back to her) can redeem him if it is
not too late
– Long version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt
Solveig’s Song
• Grieg arranged the Peer Gynt into two
orchestral suites
– The second suite (1892) is in four
movements; Solveig’s Song is the 4th
movement, played by solo violin
• Decker note: almost every recording and example
I can find is of multiple violins playing—not solo
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii2Adi2i
FRM&feature=related
Grieg on his music
• In an 1874 letter to his friend Frants Beyer,
Grieg expressed his unhappiness with what
is now considered one of his most popular
compositions from Peer Gynt, In the Hall of
the Mountain King:
– “I have also written something for the scene in the
hall of the mountain King - something that I
literally can't bear listening to because it
absolutely reeks of cow-pies, exaggerated
Norwegian nationalism, and trollish selfsatisfaction! But I have a hunch that the irony will
be discernible.”
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpzxKsSEZg
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhKe-ZNhBs&feature=related
Solveig’s Song
• The winter may pass and the spring disappear (A minor)
– the spring disappear,
• The summer too will vanish and then the year
– and then the year.
• But this I know for certain: you’ll come back again
– you’ll come back again,
•
And even as I promised, you’ll find me waiting then
– you’ll find me waiting then.
• Vocalise – neutral syllables (A major)
• God help you when wandering your way all alone (A minor)
– your way all alone,
•
God grant to you his strength as you kneel at his throne
– you kneel at his throne.
• And if you now are waiting in heaven for me
– in heaven for me,
•
Oh there we’ll meet again love and never parted be
– and never parted be.
• Vocalise – (A major)
Solveig’s Song
• final scene of fourth act (of five) in Peer Gynt
• Legato; monophonic texture
• “framed” by slow, pulsing intro; strings in A minor; harp;
flutes
• Texture becomes accompanimental for singer
• voice floats; simple, folk-like
• faith, optimism modulate (change key) to parallel major
– which would be what . . . ?
• strings switch to quick rhythmic figure
• Note of hopefulness; cadence that evokes image of
heaven and peaceful fulfillment
– vocalise – expressing music through neutral syllables
– feelings so powerful that only music, not words, is capable of
expressing them
• closes in minor key; hopeful for future, but right now, life
sucks
Solveig’s Song
• Scales
– natural minor creates earthy, folk melody
atmosphere; mode of people’s music; set’s
genuine and somber tone
– main portion of song moves freely between three
forms of the scale, allowing fro fuller range of
expression
– lighter mood created by modulation to A major
• Minor mode – andante – walking (m.m. 72)
– real and emotional journeys
• Major mode – allegretto tranquillamente (120)
– more spirited mood; hopeful for the future
Solveig’s Song
• Articulation
– Tranquillamente – tranquilly, peacefully
• Meter
– Andante – 4/4; simple quadruple
• plodding, trudging
– Allegretto or vocalise – 3/4; or triple simple
time
• Lilting, dancing
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSTNAyop
q00&feature=related
• Does not include the end “framing” part of the
strings, but by that time, who the heck cares—
Mirusia is great!
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
• one of the “Mighty Handful“
– or “Russian Five” composers: Mussorgsky,
Balakirev, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin
– Late 19th century Nationalistic composers
• propensity for capturing the feeling of a
moment instead of adhering to strict
stylistic rules
– sounds like just about every other Romantic
composer
– Rimsky-Korsakov (among others) liked to reorchestrate M’s works after he died
Pictures at an Exhibition - 1874
• written during Mussorgsky’s mature period
• piano suite based on memorial exhibition of
works by Viktor Hartmann
– It’s also been orchestrated by “over a dozen”
composers, most notably by Maurice Ravel
• 10 movements, each depicting a work:
– Watercolors, stage designs, & architectural
sketches
– The Gnome, The Old Castle, Tuileries, Bydlo
(Polish Farm Cart), Unhatched Chicks, Samuel
Goldnberg and Shmuyle, Marketplace at
Limoges, Catacombs, Bab-yaga (The Hut on
Fowl’s Legs), and The Great Gate of Kiev
– Each movement connected by the promenade
theme
•
Unhatched Chicks – 5th
movement
inspired by a watercolor costume design, intended
for Trilby – a ballet in 2 acts, 3 scenes, with
choreography and libretto by Marius Petipa and
music by Yuli Gerber
– first performed at the Bolshoi Ballet in 1871
– plot based on short story by Charles Nodier titled
Trilby, or the Elf of the Argyle.”
• “Canary-chicks, enclosed in eggs as in suits of
armor. Instead of head-dress, canary heads put
on like helmets down to the neck.”
– children in costumes depicting birds, butterflies, and
chicks still in their eggs
– unsteady dance of newborn chicks and short, soft
chirps and peeps of baby birds
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8tepGRkbiI
• Piano version with Promenade intro.
Unhatched Chicks – 5th
movement
• Form: scherzo & trio
– Popularized by Beethoven
– Descendent of minuet & trio of classical era
• Minuet is a stylized (elegant) dance; “scherzo” is a
joke!
• Actually, it’s a “scherzino” or “little joke”
• Compound ternary
– Three-part piece; one part is a form all by
itself
• Scherzino, trio, restatement of the scherzino
– “da capo” – “the head” or “the top”
» No repeats 2nd time through
• Coda or “tail” at the end, to bring the 2nd scherzino
Unhatched
• Scherzino in F major -- In two parts
– 2nd starts off as repeat of first; expansion of ideas;
sequential repetitions
– Ends in dominant harmony of C major
• F – G – A – B – C -- a fifth away from Tonic,
remember?
– AA’ -- binary with repeat
• Trio – thinner or contrasting texture – In two
parts
– AB binary form
– Remember the weave of thread in your clothing?
• Offbeat “chirping”
– Syncopated rhythm
Unhatched Timbre
• Timbre – Tone color
– Vivo leggiero – lively and delicately
• Provoking thoughts of chicks scampering around the
floor
– Una corda
• Piano hammer shifts over to strike only one string
instead of three
• Lessens the resonance and decreases the amplitude
– Resonance = duration of sound wave throughout the room
– Amplitude = volume
• In order to better hear the articulation
• High range, thick chords, grace notes – all
add color
Franz Liszt and Faust Symphony
• Three Character Sketches after Goethe:
– Faust, Gretchen, Mephistopheles
• Original Elizabethan tale by Christopher
Marlowe
– Not the Marlowe who goes up the Congo!
• Sells soul to the Devil for youth and power and
ends up in Hell
– Which means he won’t end up in the Hall
• Bonds, Clemons, McGuire et. al.
• In Goethe’s version, Faust achieves
redemption through the love of a woman,
Gretchen, he had wronged
• Berlioz shows Goethe play to Liszt who then
writes Faust Symphony
Faust Symphony
• Musical portrayals of the three main
characters
• Faust movement is longest
– Almost 30 minutes out of 75 total
– Twelve-tone composition
• Ahead of it’s time!
– Many sided personality of Faust:
• Passion, love, doubt, pride
• Gretchen – primary theme name???
– What is the name of the Princess Leia theme?
– Steadfast and stable
More Faust
• Mephistopheles
– Devil incapable of creation; so, no theme
– instead of own theme, parodies and distorts the
other themes
• If you can’t have your own theme, make fun of other
themes!
• In what other pieces does the Devil distort themes?
• In what other pieces are themes parodied or distorted?
• Michael Jackson’s Beat It
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0hZG-zNOk
• Weird Al’s Eat It
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI
Section III
Section III – Nationalism in
Music
• Composers deeply influenced by nationalism:
– Wagner, Liszt, Verdi, Elgar, Dvorak, etc., etc., etc.
• US characters that embody our nation:
– Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Uncle Sam
• How many kids of today know these names?
• Topographical features
– Grand Canyon; Rhine; Rome; Alps; sea
• Stories, food, rituals, traditions, historical events
– 9/11 anyone?
• Music can tap into collective psyche and
enhance feelings of national pride and unity
Folk Music
• Imbued with language, speech, rhythms,
and/or characteristic dance movements of
a people; can tell or evoke stories, legends,
or beliefs
– Composers use folk melodies or characteristic
rhythms, patterns, scales, or melodies to draw
listeners into a piece of music
– Especially if suppressed for a long time,
feelings want to be expressed
• Boiling pots with lids, lots of lids
Composer as Hero/Patriot
• Richard Wagner - Germany
– Looked to unify the German people
• Giuseppe Verdi - Italy
– Captured spirit and everyday concerns of the
common man—elevating these to exalted heights
• Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia
• Edvard Grieg - Norway
• Jean Sibelius - Finland (and his Finlandia)
• Edward Elgar - England
– Pomp and Circumstance
• Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss and
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
• Father was a superb horn player, professor,
conductor
• Richard raised on Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert—”discovers” Brahms and Liszt later
• Made conducting debut in 1884 (20 years-old)
– Under Hans von Bulow; took over for him in 1885 at
just 21 years of age
• Continues German music tradition with tone poem:
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
– In the Manner of an Old Rogue– In Rondo Form—Set
for Full Orchestra
– Tone poem; 1894-95
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
• 14th century anti-authoritarianism hero/rogue
– Living life by his own rules
• Pastoral intro (what other piece hints at pastures?)
• Till’s theme – French horn, then passed around; rides into
marketplace; laughs (clarinet); clergymen (viola soli) that
Till impersonates; flirts with girls (violin solo); serious
academics (bassoons); back to Till’s horse ride—
interrupted by grave march (timpani and low brass)
• Till captured—Till’s theme vs march; on trial; convicted of
heresy; sentenced to death by tuba; marched to the
gallows and hanged; high-pitched scream courtesy of
clarinet
• Epilogue; quiet rumination of Till’s theme until impudent
spirit reasserts itself (after death!) to finish the piece
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aNgaw7yV-k Part 1
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IybIVpvmpLw Part 2
Edvard Grieg and Holberg
• From Holberg’s Time: Suite in the Olden Style
–
–
–
–
–
Baroque era styling; in G
Praeludium (prelude) allegro vivace
Sarabande, a slow dance in triple meter, andante
Gavotte, allegretto, cheerful, major key, duple meter
Air, andante religioso, in G minor, lyricisem, emotional
expression reflecting Romanticism of Grieg’s own
time
– Rigaudon, allegro con brio, G major, duple meter
(with a trio in the middle for good measure!)
– 1885 – Originally for piano, arrangement for strings
more popular
– Commissioned for the 200th anniversary of Ludvig
Holberg’s birth (1684)
Isaac Albéniz and Suite
española
• Studied piano with sister until three
• Passed entrance exam for piano at Paris
Conservatoire, but denied entrance due to
age
– Or unruly behavior—the same reason???
• Studied at Leipzig Conservatory at 16
– Ran out of money in two months; had to leave
• King Alfonso XII of Spain pays to send him to
study at Brussels Conservatory
• USAD says he graduated with “first prize” in
Isaac Albéniz
• Had hopes to elevate status of zarzuela form
– Spanish comic operas
– Met with harsh criticism by conservatives
• Moved to Paris; influenced by Vincent d’Indy
and Paul Dukas
• Used musical elements to evoke national
landscapes rather than direct musical quotes
• The Suite española No. 1; suite with eight
movements, each linked to a town or region
Suite española No. 1
•
•
•
•
•
1. Granada (Serenata)
2. Cataluna (Corranda)
3. Sevilla (Sevillanas)
4. Cadiz (Saeta)
5. Asturias (Leyenda)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1jQ3o718ls&feature=relate
d
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qImpg9RXhcM&feature=rela
ted
• 6. Aragon (Fantasia)
• 7. Castilla (Seguidillas)
• 8. Cuba (Capricho)
– Distractions/bureaucratic stuff delayed for 20 years
Richard Wagner and Die Meistersinger
or “Who‘s your Daddy?“
• His mom wasn’t a daughter of a prince
(Constantin) , but his mistress
• His dad probably wasn’t his dad
– Wagnerian Operas are famous; could you
really get used to Geyerian Operas instead???
• 1833 -- First professional gig in Wurzburg
• Became director of traveling theatre
– Following his future wife, Minna Planer
• 1843 – Dresden
– Composes Tannhauser and Lohengrin
Richard Wagner
• Collects books; likes to read Moliere, Gibbon,
Greek mythology
• Proposes a German national theatre as a means
of democratic reform—rejected by the King
– not a very democratic King, was he?
• 1848 – denounced money as evil; predicted
downfall of the aristocracy
– sounds like sour grapes; he was almost always broke,
and always needed money for his musical projects
– associated with Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin
• Who hung out with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
• Sheltered from arrest by Liszt; flees to
Switzerland
Wagner
• Wrote essays on reform from safety of Zurich
– Opera should be King!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vNReqUGtsc
– art can “express spirit of humanity only when
liberated from sphere of capitalist speculation and
profit-making”
• Gesamtkunstwerk
– Total work of art; reminiscent of ancient Greek
drama
– Dance, music, poetry, visual art—all in one!
• Must be pureblood
– Hitler loved Wagner’s music
– But I don’t think Hitler liked Buggs Bunny
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2VMqQ6XnmI
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
• Opera in three acts
–
–
–
–
First performed in Munich in 1868
Wagner wrote storyline and libretto
His only comic opera
Four and a half hours long
• Wagner did not believe in half-way measures
• Unlike other Wagner operas, it is not built on a folk
tale or mythological story
• historical drama; 16th century Nuremburg
• Meistersingers – Master Singers
– Keepers and purveyors of German musical and poetry
tradition
– Main character, Hans Sachs, base on famous
Meistersinger
– Leitmotiv – musical idea (like Berlioz’ Idée fixe)
Prelude to Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg
• Preludes introduce themes that will be
important throughout the story
– Wagner weaves leitmotivs into the musical
fabric
• USAD excerpt introduces five leitmotivs
– 3 associated with the Meistersingers
– 2 associated with romance between Eva &
Walther
• The Meistersinger Guild
– Proud, self-confident, ready to do it’s duty
– C major, medium/moderate tempo
– Full orchestra, esp. brass
– Homophony at first; then a little independence
– Very metric (strong beat)
– Musicians and poets on Mission from God
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4HZKDel9N0
• Here’s a good clip of the full prelude:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNdLpJILRzs&fe
ature=related
• Wooing music (Walther’s romancing of
Eva)
– Thinner texture
– Articulations more connected
– Quieter dynamics
– Flute, oboe, clarinet
– Playful melody, darts in and out of the beat
– Still in C major, but with elusive tonic
• Women are so hard to pin down
– Downward contour
• March of the Meistersingers
– Quick moving, monophonic idea in the strings
– Based on actual MS song from 16th century
– Strong and prideful; contest theme
– Lower brass
– Built on pitches of C major triad
– Ascending contour
– Homophonic texture
• Another Meistersinger song (the “guild
theme”)
– More lyrical (smooth and connected)
– Still in C major, but tune revolves more around
dominant pitch of G ( 5th above tonic)
– Contour “wavy” but trends upward
• Traversing an octave along the way
– Change in timbre; strings (instead of brass)
sustain the leitmotiv
• Musicians and poets on an intimate mission
• Speaking to us instead of at us (less bombastic than
• Another love theme
– Key of mediant-related E major (up a 3rd from
tonic)
• Significant; consequences of this love will have
transformative influence upon entire drama
– Presented by the strings
– Lyrical, downward contour
– More seriously evolved love; less playful
Chopin
• Born near Warsaw, Poland
– Well-connected middle-class family
– Father taught at the Lyceum
• Housed in the Saxon Palace, then Kazimierowski palace
– Lived in apartments in both palaces
• If that’s middle-class, I’m in big trouble . . .
– Mixed with the intelligentsia and aristocracy
• Again—middle class?
• Musical prodigy—mostly self-taught/Jozef
Elsner
– Published composer by age seven
– Shows preference for performance in intimate
More Chopin
• “More than any other composer before him,
Chopin wrote his piano music specifically for
the instrument itself”
– Recognized limitation of range in one hand
– Exploited the unlimited range between two
hands
• Encouraged to write Polish nationalistic
music
– Instead of fighting for freedom directly
– “people” wanted a large-scale work, like an
Opera
• The “IN” thing of the time, Opera
Mazurka
• Lively Polish folk dance
– From the Mazovia region of Poland
• Where Chopin grew up
– Rhythmic pattern is two eighth notes followed
by two quarter notes in a triple meter
• Accent on “weak” beats (2 and 3)
– Often played in tempo rubato
• Vary the tempo for expressive purposes
• In tandem with the counterintuitive meter, adds an
unpredictable/spontaneous spirit to the dance
– Also wrote other dances, like the polonaise
• Which means “Polish” or “Polish-like”
Chopin
• Fell in love with George Sand
– Pen name of novelist Aurore Dupin
– A prolific and iconoclastic author of novels, stories,
plays, essays, and memoirs, she represented the
epitome of French romantic idealism
– To protest the unequal treatment accorded to women,
George usually wore men's suits: shirt, pants, jacket,
tie, top hat
• Not only did George wear men's clothes, she also smoked
cigars and had a rowdy sense of humor
– George and Frédéric’s love affair started platonic,
became intimate, and ultimately became more of a
mother-son type of relationship (?!?!?!?!)
• Died of tuberculosis (consumption back then) in
1849
Mazurka in G Minor, Opus 67, No. 2
• Published posthumously
• Austere in its embellishment, yet elegant
and powerful
– Simple ornamentation
– Tricky rhythms, meter, emphasis
• Mazurka is a dance in three with emphasis on the
2nd beat
• “hop step” lands on beat two
Additional Resources
Links
Bambi meets Godzilla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FDXt8arBdw
All About Beethoven – specifically, Beethoven’s 6th symphony
http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/symphony6.html
An even better (to me) description of Beethoven’s 6th symphony
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5478661
Even more good stuff on Beethoven’s 6th—more musical details of 4th movement
http://www.thetutorpages.com/tutor-article/classical-guitar/beethovens-6th-symphony-pastoral/1746
Good view of orchestra as they play 6th symphony, 4th movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZVdVuskkKU
Fingal’s Cave Overture (The Hebrides) by Felix Mendelssohn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyZ5cHUaiBI&feature=related
Jim Richardson, photographer for National Geographic – Fingal’s Cave
http://jimrichardson.typepad.com/richardson_photography/2010/01/inside-fingals-cave-frame12649.html
Now for something completely different:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psP0XgTI2VE&feature=related
King Singers – Overture to Barber of Seville
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oio1G-7aopo