Exam 2 Flashcards
Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21
This cycle of songs relies upon the poems of ________ poet _________.
Symbolist
Albert Giraud
The Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 was requested by an actress who wished to recite the poetry over what?
Piano accompaniment
Pierrot Lunaire is a synthesis of ______ and _____.
melodrama
song
Ultimately, Pierrot Lunaire was scored for:
Speaker and chamber ensemble (5 musicians).
What is irregular about the instrumentation of the musicians in Pierrot Lunaire?
Some musicians double on a second instrument
Sprechstimme
“Speaking voice”; declamatory style following the notated rhythm precisely, but the pitches only approximately—in gliding tones of speech.
How is Sprechstimme indicated in the score of Pierrot Lunaire?
indicated with an ‘x’ seen through the note stem.
The writing in Pierrot Lunaire is related to ______ —notably, the paintings of Kokoschka and Schiele.
expressionism
What was the approach of the painters Kokoschka and Schiele?
Utilized distortion of real objects to reflect feelings about their surroundings and themselves.
How does Schoenberg manifest this musically (hint: No. 13 Enthauptung)?
he “beheading” of the main character is represented as a scimitar (curved Turkish sword), which Schoenberg depicts with sweeping whole-tone scales
Atonal
No single pitch serves as a tonal center.
Similar to what we saw in Scriabin’s Vers la flamme, Schoenberg creates a “tonic” analog by:
Emphasizing certain motives or chords toward the beginning, and later restating or varying them at the same pitch.
To give the music coherence and shape, Schoenberg relies on
motivic development
Developing Variation
Present a basic idea at the outset, then continuously draw out
new variants of the idea, derived from the original.
How is unity achieved in terms of compositional motive (hint: No. 8 Nacht)?
A 3-note motive (rising minor 3rd followed by a falling major 3rd) suffuses all of this
work, appearing in many transformations (e.g., inversion, retrograde)
How is the “traditional” evoked/utilized in Pierrot Lunaire?
Evoking old forms/genres, and relying on traditional techniques (e.g., canon, passacaglia)
Passacaglia
Set of variations over a repeated bass.
Schoenberg calls for special playing techniques in Nacht, specifically:
Cello bows over the bridge to create a thin metallic sound.
Cello plays harmonics.
The bass clarinet uses flutter tonguing.
Hauptstimme
Leading voice.
How does Schoenberg indicate hauptstimme in the score of Enthauptung?
With a bracket in the notation
Piano Suite, Op. 25
This piece exemplifies Schoenberg’s fascination with re-creating
the “structural functions of tonality.”
Twelve-tone Method (/Serialism)
A way of creating the sense of progression and resolution
seen in traditional tonic-dominant relationships, but using a mechanism based around
meticulous sequences of pitches called rows or series.
Twelve-tone Row (/Series)
A singular sequence featuring all 12 tones of the chromatic scale,
arranged in an order providing the composer’s desired sequence of intervals and motives.
Rows avoid emphasizing a specific tonal center because
They include all twelve notes of the chromatic scale
The row functions as a kind of _________ region, and its transformations function as
_______ regions.
Tonal
Contrasting
Motivic and tonal consistency are achieved in this process by:
Using the same row throughout.
In what forms can a row be presented?
Prime (original)
Inversion
Retrograde
Retrograde inversion
Transposition
_______ are treated as the same for the purposes of the row.
Enharmonic notes
Tetrachords
Dividing the row into 3 segments of 4 notes each.
Tetrachords illustrate how Schoenberg commonly breaks the row into smaller units used to form ____ and _____.
Motives
Chords
Despite being the first example of this progressive new approach, Schoenberg relies upon tradition in the form by using the Baroque ____.
dance suite
Prelude characteristics in Piano Suite, Op. 25
Somewhat free-form.
In the tradition of the Baroque keyboard prelude.
Minuet characteristics in Piano Suite, Op. 25
The strict dance form, with lighter texture in the trio than the minuet.
2-part counterpoint and canon in trio.
2-measure phrasing and standard rounded binary form in minuet.
The harmonic rhythm is created every 2 measures by presenting a complete row.
What other allusion to the Baroque period is spelled out in the R-0 (retrograde) form of
the prime row?
Bach’s name: BACH B-flat, A, C, B-natural
Is hearing the tone rows necessary for a listener to understand the music?
No, the piece can be perfectly coherent without recognizing any rows, e.g., the canon is
detectable from the contours of the rows.
Most importantly, listeners should recognize ____ drawn from the compositional
process.
motives
The Berg libretto was adapted from a play (based on a real event) by whom?
Wozzeck
The opera was met with success, soon established as the most popular _________ opera.
atonal
Briefly summarize the story of Wozzeck:
He was a poor soldier that was accused of killing his wife after she had cheated. Consumed with guilt he dies trying to hide the murder weapon
Berg used traditional elements (specify below), demonstrating his interest in reflecting on ___________________________.
the past
Berg Motives
light motives
drama
Berg Forms
using traditional form
Berg used these traditional forms to describe the characters and convey the dramatic situation,
each one symbolizing something specific.
Act I:
Baroque suite:
Rhapsody:
March:
Lullaby:
Pasacaglia:
Rondo:
Baroque - symbolizes the captain’s devotion to conventions
Rhapsody - Wozzeck sees visions
March - Marie goes to see the drum major
Lullaby - Marie singing to a child
Passacaglia - The doctor’s obsession with experiments
Rondo - Drum Major’s seduction
Act II: _______________ in 5 movements, overall symbolizing:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Symphony
Wozzeck trying to win Marie back and the failure
1. Sonata
2. Fantasia and Fuge
3. Ternery and slow
4. Scherzo
5. Rondo
Act III: Series of 6 ______________, each on a __________________________, overall
symbolizing:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
inventions
single element
Wozzeck’s obsession
1. Theme
2. Single Note
3. Single Rhythmic Pattern
4. Single Chord
5. Single Key
5. Single Duration
In Act III Scene 2, a persistent B is used by Berg to symbolize:
Obsession
Revenge
In Act III Scene 3, the repeated rhythmic pattern symbolizes:
Can’t Escape
Guilt
Though Berg’s music is atonal, he frequently imitates the styles/textures of tonal music (note
examples below), making his music more _________________ to listeners:
Accessible
Triads and Triadic shapes
Prominent 4ths
Melodic Sequences
Balanced Phrases
Arching Lines
In adopting Schoenberg’s 12-tone method, Webern felt it was the solution to what?
a great method for writing extended instrumental works atonally
Did Webern intend for performers to analyze the rows?
No
On what did Webern feel performers should focus?
The music surface, making each note as expressive as possible
Again, despite the modern approach, we see Webern adapting traditional elements:
(Orchestra)
(Mvmt I form)
(Mvmt II form)
18th-century symphony
Sonata
Theme and Variation
Yet, Webern’s reconceives these traditional notions.
In mvmt I, the typical contrasting themes of the exposition are now:
two simultaneous canons in inversion
The application of these voices (related by inversion) creates _________________, both of ________________ and of _________________ (i.e., from the 12-tone rows).
Symmetry
Timbre
Tetrachords
Klangfarbenmelodie
Single line, each instrument is inserting a note in the texture tone color or melody, constant pitches drop in and out to create tone color
Notably, the “development” is structured as a ____________________.
Palindrome
Pointillism
different notes coming from parts of the score, tiny points of sound
A student of __________________, Stravinsky was a master of ____________________.
Rimsky-Korsakov
Orchestration
Common Stravinsky compositional traits:
Contrast and Continuity
Building intensity and Layering
Special Effects in orchestra
Using particular timbre
In The Rite of Spring, what did Stravinsky intend as the goal (i.e., what was the “plot”)?
Pagan ritual in prehistoric Russia, adolescent girl dances herself to death as a sacrifice for Spring
Stravinsky drew on ______________ and _________________ folk songs.
Russian
Slavic
Stravinsky Invented an _____________________, dissonant, and shocking musical language.
Anti- Romantic
