Chamber Music

Question 1

What is Chamber Music?

Answer 1

Music for a small ensemble meant for performance in more intimate locations than a concert hall, usually with no conductor (Classical)

Question 2

Why did Chamber Music discover newfound popularity in the Classical era?

Answer 2

Amateur music-making increased (Classical)

Question 3

What were the most popular types of Chamber music?

Answer 3

Duo sonata, string quartet, piano trio (Classical)

Question 4

What is a string quartet?

Answer 4

The most popular type of chamber music that included 2 violins a viola, and a cello, and was usually written exemplifying the sonata cycle (fast-slow-medium-fast) (Classical)

Question 5

ALL CHARACTERISTICS OF String Quartet in C sharp Minor, op. 131.

Answer 5

Structure: 7 movements
Background: Written in Beethoven’s later, angry life
Key: C sharp minor
Meter: Cut time
Performing forces: String quartet
Genre: String quartet
Composer: Beethoven
Date: 1826 (Classical)

Question 6

Musical Characteristics of String Quartet in C sharp Minor, op. 131.

Answer 6

The work starts with an intense, sad fugal exposition, with 2 short motives, 1 played by violin and viola while the other one being played by violin and cello. The second violin and cello create a real answer based on the subdominant instead of the dominant. After the exposition, Beethoven continues to build onto the piece using the two motives. After, Beethoven continues to build, even modulating to various different keys. However, an exquisite moment occurs when the higher instruments and lower instruments are paired up and play a short melody, higher instruments then lower instruments. When the music finally starts to end, there is no clear ending and instead ends with a couple of unsettling chords (Classical)

Question 7

Who was Ludwig Van Beethoven?

Answer 7

Perhaps one of the most famous composers in history, this German man meticulously planned out every element of his pieces to gain fame. He composed piano sonatas, symphonies, overtures, concertos, chamber music, and vocal works. He was a bold innovator, preferring to use existing structures as a skeleton and fill the rest in his own way. Examples of innovations include:
Replacing the menuet and trio with the scherzo and trio (e.g. Symphony No. 5), use of cyclical structure, (e.g. Symphony No. 5), programmatic elements, (Symphony No. 6) inclusion of a chorus in a symphony (Symphony No. 9). Additionally, he also transformed every genre he touched and employed dramatic, explosive music(Classical)