humanities 18 Flashcards
first opera was a one-act jazz number called Blue Monday. It was among the first to mix the new style of jazz music in with what was considered classical music to create a category all its own, known now as a folk opera. Blue Monday was a flop
George Gershwin
Who wrote Porgy and Bess?
George Gershwin The characters were African American, and it was set in South Carolina. While Porgy and Bess was not popular at the time, it has since gone on to be one of the most well-known and widely performed operas in America. Gershwin also worked with his brother Ira on various musicals, including Lady Be Good, Show Girl, and Girl Crazy.
He was one of the best-known composers of the 20th century, and his work, particularly his musicals, is some of the best known in the world. He worked with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as an assistant conductor
Leonard Bernstein
Which Leonard Bernstein opera was based on the book by Voltaire?
Candide
Leonard Bernstein’s works
The influence of jazz is seen more keenly in his operetta Trouble in Tahiti and its sequel A Quiet Place. The musical that Bernstein is most lauded for is West Side Story, where jazz music and the streets of New York bring Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to life. The story of Maria and Tony has been acted on stages worldwide since its inception.
Two pioneers to combine jazz with classical music were
Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin
Leonard: Trouble in Tahiti, A Quite Place, West Side Story, and Candide
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess, Rhapsody in Blue, Blue Monday, and Lady Be Good.
He was Russian ballet composer of the early 20th century.It has been said that the only thing consistent about him is his lack of consistency; he was constantly experimenting and pushing the rules of theater. His works were also deeply connected to a sense of Russian national identity
Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky’s most famous ballet to build upon Russian nationalist pride
Pertrushka
In this ballet, Stravinsky actually used pieces of Russian folk songs, which at the time was shocking. Folk music and high culture, like ballet, were supposed to be separate, but Stravinsky fused them together to present an artistic synthesis of Russian identity.
In terms of harmony, Stravinsky was known for ________, the use of two or more keys at the same time.
polytonality
Stravinsky wrote the ballet so that different parts of the orchestra were playing in different keys at the same time. This radical idea became one of the defining traits of modern and experimental ballet, but it sure caused a stir when he first tried it. In fact, when Stravinsky premiered what has become his most famous ballet, ____________________ in 1913, people literally rioted after the first act. Police presence was required in the theater throughout the second act.
The Rite of Spring
In French Le Sacre du printemps
is remembered for defining an American sound. Part of this comes through his themes. Appalachian Spring, which premiered in 1944, tells the story of American pioneers in rural Pennsylvania. The ballet Rodeo, which came out in 1942, tells the tale of a brave, roping and riding cowgirl looking for love. And Billy the Kid, a ballet that premiered in 1938, follows the story of the famed American outlaw.
Aaron Copland
Copland made heavy use of American folk songs in these ballets, bringing popular and artistic culture together. These American folk heroes - the pioneer, the cowgirl, the outlaw - had never appeared in ballet before, and Copland is credited with developing a truly American style of ballet.
Like Stravinsky, he played around with tonality, altering the keys of his compositions and even occasionally incorporating atonality, the lack of any musical key. This system, in which the composer balances all twelve tones in European music equally to prevent a central key from forming, is one of the defining traits of modernist music.
Aaron Copland (American, modernism)
Russian composer from early 20th century. Made use of polytonality and themes from Russian folk songs
Igor Stravinsky
American composer from the 20th century. Used themes of pioneers and outlaws. Experimented with atonality.
Aaron Copland
A style of composition developed in the mid-20th century; focuses on challenging assumptions about what music is and how we experience it
Modern Experimental Music
used unorthodox rhythms, keys, and arrangements to create new sounds and set important precedents for later musicians.
Charles Ives
was focused on introducing entirely new sounds, such as the prepared piano and a piece of music in which the musicians were silent and the sound came from the immediate environment.
John Cage
The American composer of the mid-late 20th century, built upon the ideas of his predecessors by exploring the process and action of listening to music.
Philip Glass
East Asian music is based on a _________, a musical arrangement of an octave with five notes.
Pentatonic scaleIn
Western music, we have a heptatonic or seven-note scale
In ballet, ____ means ‘step of two’ or a dance performed by two people, often times one man and one woman.
Pas de deux
In ballet, ____means ‘round the leg’ and it describes a motion where you move your leg in a kind of semi-circle on the floor. I
Rond de jambe
In ballet, means ‘lifted up’ and refers to when a dancer stands up on his or her toes, though it’s typically female dancers who do this.
Releve
The Nutcracker
music by Tchaikovsky, choreography by Marius Petipa. The ballet tells the story of a little girl, sometimes named Clara, sometimes Marie, who gets a nutcracker at a family holiday party. Her jerk brother Fritz breaks it, and she’s disappointed but lo and behold, at the stroke of midnight, the thing comes to life and dances around.
For some reason that I’ve never understood, there’s a also a ton of mice, a creepy Mouse King, and a beautiful Sugar Plum Fairy, not to be confused with Princess Lolly from Candy Land. Though the ballet is now a staple of American Christmastime, it wasn’t very well received when it debuted in Russia back in the late 19th century.
Swan Lake
Tchaikovsky also composed Swan Lake, and it was first choreographed by Julius Reisinger, then reworked by none other than Marius Petipa and Lev IvanovThe main character (and principal dancer) is Odette, a young lass who has a spell cast upon her by an evil sorcerer, which makes her a swan by day and a human by night. Pretty relatable, right?
Odette is clearly the most beautiful swan around, but not surprisingly, would prefer to return to human form, which can only occur if some worthy young gent declares his love for her, ends bittersweetly