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
What was the “ism” Stravinsky sought to evoke, and what ballet aspects aided this?
(Choreography)
(Sets/costumes)
Primitivism
Deliberately awkward movements
Russian peasants
Stravinsky elevates _______________ and ________________ to a position equal to pitch and motive—as determinants of ______________, ______________, and ______________.
Rhythm
Tone Color
Form
Shape
Progress
In Rite of Spring, we find prominent use of (hint: big list!):
Osinatos
Frequent Changes in Meter
Unpredictable rests and attacks
Rhythm and Melody reduced to elements
Layering
Discontinuing
Motives identified by timbre
In Danse des adolescents:
Intense dissonance has no expectation of _______________________.
Resolution
How does Stravinsky reduce the meter to mere rhythmic pulsation?
Unpredictable Accents
Why is the rhythmic pulsation evocative of the “ism” in Rite of Spring?
Emphasizes pulse
Two important words related to Stravinsky’s approach are juxtaposition and superimposition. How do these come into play in this movement?
(Juxtaposition)
(Superimposition)
Blocks of sound in succession
Layers
Thus, the music in Rite of Spring moves forward by ________________, _________________, and ____________________ ideas.
Layering
Juxtaposition
Alternating
Danse sacrale depicts:
The chosen girl dances herself to death
Danse Sacrale conveys an atmosphere of violence by using:
dissonant chords
loud dynamics
unpredictable accents
This piece represents Stravinsky’s mature style, an important component of something that was associated with Stravinsky from 1919-51:
taking elements of his mature style and combining it with 18th century
Neoclassicism
composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of “classicism”, namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint.
Milhaud was among the first classically trained composers to draw on ______________.
Jazz and Blues
How did Milhaud gain this influence?
Visiting the US
Milhaud was able to demonstrate this masterful synthesis of elements because:
Understood jazz and Blues
Was able to see the elements and neoclassicism:Fuge
His ballet La creation du monde capitalized on:
French love of jazz
Fashion for African Art
He blended the raw energy of ___________ with _______________ traditions.
Jazz
European Classical
How does the instrumentation reflect this?
typical brass, string, and percussion and jazz instumentation
Milhaud was in line with the ___________________ aesthetic current in Paris after WWI, trading impressionism’s focus on ________________and _______________________ for _____________________ and sounds from _________________________________.
Anti-Debussyist
Harmony
Color
Counterpoint
Popular Music
Polytonality
the musical use of more than one key simultaneously
Polyrhythm
the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter
George Gershwin—championing the composition of the music—formed an iconic songwriting duo with _________________, who wrote the lyrics.
Ira
Tin Pan Alley
District in NYC, groups of publishers on the street
I Got Rhythm exemplifies the standard Tin-Pan-Alley form of:
verse + 32-bar chorus (AABA’)
Which portion of the Tin-Pan Alley form is the bridge?
The B Section
The main emphasis of I Got Rhythm is on the ___________.
chorus
Why are the two sections of I Got Rhythm set in different keys?
set apart the singing, highlight it, changes of mood and style
What is the real purpose of the score in Tin Pan Alley songs?
reproduction and sales
I Got Rhythm was an immediate popular hit, and soon became a ________________.
jazz standard
In jazz improvisation, what is the more important element of the tune and why?
Harmonic Framwork
Changes in I Got Rhythm
chords, harmonic framework
I Got Rhythm is remarkable in that it became the basis for a considerable amount of later jazz tunes, dubbed: _________________________.
rhythm changes
Between the World Wars, jazz and popular music were sold in two different formats:
1.
2.
Recordings of stars.
Sheet music for amateurs to play at home, or for other musicians to program in their performances.
What does the difference between recordings and sheet music show about jazz players’ use of songs?
Shows how jazz players used songs as a basis for improvisation.
Vamp
Accompanist repeats lead-in measures until the singer joins in.
Blue notes
Lowered 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths
Swing rhythm
Even eighth notes played in an uneven pattern of alternating long and short notes
Chorus
Single statement of the whole form (i.e., 1 time through the complete progression.
Turnaround
Chord progression leading from the tonic to the dominant, to prepare for the next chorus.
Scat-singing
Singing nonsense syllables to an improvised melody, making the voice imitate an instrument
Louis Armstrong recorded this tune, heralding 2 seminal developments in jazz:
1.
2.
Scat-singing.
Armstrong developed a reputation as an outstanding soloist and paved the way for dynamic, improvised solos.
Ellington was known to hire players more for their ______ than for their ability to ________ into his ensemble.
Individual Sounds
Blend
Contrafact
New tune composed over the harmonic progression of another song
Cotton Tail is a contrafact of the tune:
I Got Rhythm
Lead sheet
Melody written out and harmony given as chord symbols above the staff
Chart
Composition for jazz ensemble with most parts written out in an arrangement.]
Riff
Repeated melodic statement.
What is the notational significance of recordings like those of Ellington, Oliver, Smith?
Recordings came to preserve performances, even improvised ones, in a form as permanent as
notation.
Die Dreigroschenoper translates to _______________, which became the most famous work of ________ in its time.
The Threepenny Opera
musical theatre
An underlying goal of the work was to create a “montage of borrowed sources.” What did Weill
use as “sources”?
Firstly, the work as a whole was modeled on John Gay’s ______.
Yet the following sounds and genres were more prominently used:
The Beggar’s Opera
Neoclassicism
Operetta
Jazz
Popular song styles of the 1920s
How does Weill’s work “hold up a mirror” to modern society, providing a critique?
(Dialogue)
(Ensemble)
Spoken dialogue with musical numbers interspersed.
Accompanied by a 7-piece group of European jazz studio musicians.
The combination of dialogue and ensemble in Die Dreigroschenoper specifically offered a commentary on the artificiality of ___: the ______ itself and its _________.
opera
genre
affectations
Who is “Mack the Knife”?
Central character, notorious gang leader, infamous for his
gruesome crime and also for serially seducing and abandoning women
Mack the Knife’s ballad—the opening to the opera—serves what purpose?
Meant to introduce the audience to the central character before he ever takes the stage
The accompaniment in Die Dreigroschenoper gradually transforms from ____________ to the style of ____________.
“barrel-organ style”
sound of 1920s jazz
This gradual in Die Dreigroschenoper transformation itself creates a parody of:
Modern jazz
In Russia, the government controlled all aspects of life, including ______.
Seen as a method of ________________ into state ideals.
After the 1917 revolution, institutions were ______________ and repertoire strictly
_____________.
The arts
Indoctrinating
Nationalized
Regulated
What was Pravda?
means truth, official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party
Alexander Nevsky was a sound film released during pre-WWII tensions, and an important tool for ________________.
propaganda
The subject matter for the film Alexander Nevsky was based upon what historical event?
Battle with Germany, Nevsky lured the Germans onto the ice and surrounded them, the germans fell through the ice
Prokofiev later arranged portions of the music as a concert work. Why did he elect to make it a cantata?
Cantata is a mini oritorio
Substantial amounts of the piece included the chorus
Diegetic music (source music)
Music heard by both the audience and the characters in a film
Nondiegetic music (underscoring)
Music only heard by the audience
Socialist realism
Arts strengthened Soviet agenda, accessible to audience
In particular, Socialist realism called for music that was:
Simple
Easily Digestible
Full of Melody
Dissonance was allowed in Socialist realism if the meaning of it was _________ and ______________.
purposeful
appropriate
Thanks to his first symphony, Shostakovich enjoyed _____________ status from the age of 19.
Celebrity
In 1936, why did Pravda denounce Shostakovich?
he had a modernist opera
Shostakovich therefore did not release his ____________ fourth symphony. He instead composed the fifth symphony to accomplish what?
Modernist
Moderate in modernism, got state approval again
Shostakovich’s fifth symphony therefore featured a lot of “classic” elements, such as:
Simpler form
Direct Expression
classical 4 movement structure
Yet, Shostakovich’s fifth symphony still featured some modern elements, such as:
Harmony moves unexpectedly to a new key
Tonal centers are established by assertion
Notably, Shostakovich’s fifth symphony was strongly influenced by _____________, and also by ________________’s fifth symphony.
Mahler
Beethoven
What is the genre of Mikrokosmos: No. 123, Staccato and Legato
Etude
Mikrokosmos means _____________. It is both a collection of _____ pieces for piano students encapsulating the ____________ and _________ of modern music and offers ________ into Bartók’s style.
Microcosm
153
Techniques
Sounds
Insight
What does the title, Staccato and Legato, allude to?
the tempo
How does Mikrokosmos: No. 123, Staccato and Legato exemplify classical tradition analogous to Bach?
Classical tonal structure and chromaticism
two-part invention canon
inversion
counterpoint
How is the classical tonal structure evident of traits common in many Hungarian peasant melodies?
1907 - melody modeled directly from that song
This particular Hungarian melody collected in ______ shows how closely Bartók modeled Hungarian folk music in this and other pieces.
1907
The contrast of __________ and ________ is common in both classical tradition and Hungarian peasant tunes and shows Bartók’s _______ of both traditions of peasant music while also _________ what makes each tradition _____________.
diatonism
Chromatism
Sythesis
Highlights
Distinctive
Still Life
First African-American Composer to…
Have a symphony be performed by a major orchestra
Conduct a white radio orchestra
Have an opera produced by a major American orchestra
Was dubbed the Dean of Afro-American Composers
Still Works
Multiple Genres
○Operas
○Ballets
○Symphonies
○Chamber music
○Choral
○Solo Vocal
○And more!
Still Compositional Aspects
African American Traditions and writing style
○Call & Response
○Syncopation
○Varied repetition of melodic and rhythmic ideas
○Jazz harmonies
○Dialogue between groups of instruments
○Irregular phrase lengths
●Rejected spirituals as a main source for writing
○Turned to blues
■“… (they) do not exhibit the influence of Caucasian
music”
Danzas de Panama: No.4 Cumbia y Congo (1948)
●4 movements
○Each emulates different dances of Latin American dances
■Tamborito, Mejorana, Punto, and Cumbia
○Different Latin American countries have their different
details on the different dances
■The 1st and 4th movements were styled under the
Afro-Latin dances
■The middle two were styled under the Panamanian dances
●Cumbia
○Type of dance that originated in South America
■Influences from enslaved Africans
○Usually driven by passion rather than logistics
No.4 Cumbia y Congo (1948)
Extended Techniques
○Knocking on the instruments to give a percussive feel
●Compositionally
○Tons of calls and responses and passing of the motivic idea
at the time
○Big variety of both melodic and rhythmic ideas
●Passionate
○There isn’t a ton of recurring ideas
■Shows the passion of the style and it shows they go
with the flow with cumbias
○Contrasts
■Tempo
■Dynamics
○Very Dance-like
Hindemith was attacked by Nazis through the press in what way?
atonal noise maker
Story of Mathis der Malek
the life of Mathias Grunewald and his Isenheim Altarpiece
The opening theme of Mathis der Malek frequently returns, but it is varied at a ___________ dynamic.
higher
These themes in Mathis are _____________ at the end, which gives the first sections no finality.
different
The harmony of Mathis is _____________ rather than tonal as evidenced by:
neotonal
open fifths and octaves
triads
chords built on 4th
dissonances of 2nd or 7th
Like the form, these harmonies in Mathis suggest ___________ rather than closure. This reflects the ending of the story from the opera.
moving forward
Charles Ives
Born in Danbury Connecticut
father - bandmaster, church musician, music teacher
American Modernist Composer
Regarded as the first to make distinctly American body of art music
Ives’s style
Types of music - American vernacular, protestant church, European classical, experimental
Synthesized international and regional traditions
First to use polytonality
The Unanswered Question
Tone poem for changer orchestra
experimental
trumpet and flute are atonal
harmony in the strings - tonal
contrasts dynamics tempo and activity level
Strings - “The Silences of the Druids - Who Know, See, and Hear Nothing”
four flutes- “the hunt for the “Invisible Answer’
flutes try to answer trumpts
ends with a trumpet motive with no answer
