Character Pieces for Piano Flashcards
With lieder (and song), music expresses ___.
Text.
What does music bring that text doesn’t?
Counter-reading of text.
What’s being expressed in music?
- Uncertainty.
- The sense of a general mood.
- Ambiguity can be an advantage.
Character Pieces
Small-scale piano works, each portrays a mood/character.
Character pieces are similar to lieder, as…
Each piece portrays a mood or character.
Features of Schubert’s Moment Musical No. 2 in A-flat:
- One motive drives the work.
- Rubato and expressive use of harmony.
- Registrar and extreme dynamic shifts signify…anger? Moodiness? Unpredictability at the very least.
Schubert uses ___ means to achieve ___ results.
Classical, Romantic.
What does it mean when it is said that Schubert uses Classical means to achieve Romantic results?
Classical features like clear form and undescriptive title are used, but there are lieder-like features.
Features of Eusebius:
- Ambiguity through rhythm, overlapping of phrases.
- No sharp contrast between sections (b has elements of a).
- Rubato in performance adds to impression of metric freedom.
- aa ba b’a’ ba.
Features of Florestan:
- Extreme contrast to Eusebius.
- Contrast within the piece – agitated, hesitant.
- Like a development cut off from the rest of the piece. Open-ended.
Nocturne
- Portrayal of things that happen in the night.
- Serenade, tryst, dance, folk song, mourning…21 different nights.
Can music be detached from its culture?
No.
Explain the rationale underlying piano = women.
Piano = domestic; domestic = women.
Nocturne delved into the realm of the ___.
Feminine.
Men say nocturnes presented a woman’s view of the world, because…
They were decorative, gentle, but unpredictable.
