Listening Quiz 3

Question 1

An der schonen blauen Donau

Answer 1

Johann Strauss Jr. (1867) Consists of an extended introduction followed by a series of individual waltzes that are mostly in binary form. Each of the waltzes have their own thematic idea and introductions.

Question 2

Washington Post

Answer 2

John Phillip Sousa (1889) March coordinated the physical movement for soldiers
Unusual instrumentation choices: saxophone, cornet, Eb horn, harp

Question 3

Swan Lake

Answer 3

Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky (1876) This ballet depicts the story of a prince and princess , Siegfried and Odette, who have been kidnapped by the sorcerer Rothbarth

Question 4

Symphony No.4 in e minor, Op.98 (IV)

Answer 4

Johannes Brahms (1885) uses sonata form. The structure of this movement is a series of 30 variations, each eight measures long. Brahms’s reminder to the musical world “old forms are capable of rejuvenation”

Question 5

Symphony No.1 in D major (III)

Answer 5

Gustav Mahler (1888) directly linked to the funeral march in the second movement of Beethoven’s “Eroica”
Third Movement
Entire movement inspired by a well-known illustration showing wild animals bearing a hunter to his grave.

Question 6

Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune

Answer 6

Claude Debussy (1894) epitomizes the assault on traditional elements by composers between 19th and 20th centuries. It ends in E major, all chromatic and harmonic ambiguities aside. Stands well within the tonal tradition.

Question 7

Voiles

Answer 7

Claude Debussy (1910) full of parallel octaves and fifths ad features whole tone pentatonicism. The effect is one of freely floating tonality with no clear center. Based on his experience with Javanese gamelan at 1889 Paris World’s Fair

Question 8

Diminished Fifth, Mikrokosmos, Book 4, No. 101

Answer 8

Béla Bartók (between 1932 and 1939) Based on the octatonic scale it repeatedly juxtaposes two tetrachords that together make up the octatonic scale.

Question 9

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4, Miudinho

Answer 9

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1930) follows the structure of the Baroque suite. This movement represents the finale and stands as toccata-like gigue in the style of Bach

Question 10

“The Cage”

Answer 10

Charles Ives (1906) There are quartal harmonies. Chords that are built on 4ths rather than 3rds. Absence of bar lines or meters. Unsettling text

Question 11

Le Sacre du printemps

Answer 11

Igor Stravinsky (1913) Polytonal harmonies. Story: a young girl dances herself to death while sage elders look on. It is divided into 2 parts: 1. The Adoration of the Earth 2. The Sacrifice. More than 1 tonal center and it is dissonant

Question 12

The Banshee

Answer 12

Henry Cowell (1925) Piece requires two performers (one hold the damper pedal down). Instructions on score for how to sweep and pluck the strings. Banshee is “a woman of the Inner World…who is charged with taking your soul into the Inner World when you die

Question 13

Pierrot lunaire “Der kranke Mond,” “Die Kreuze”

Answer 13

Arnold Schoenberg (1912) “The Sick Moon” and “The Crosses”.
Utilizes Sprechstimme style of singing to reinforce surreal quality of text and music. It is neither speech nor song but a means of declemation between the two.
“Der kranke Mond” and “Die Kreuze” epitomizes Pierrot: the pale, moonstruck clown
Series of 21 brief poems by Albert Giraud allows for structural coherence in absence of traditional harmony

Question 14

Piano Suite, Op. 25—“Praeludium” and “Menuett”

Answer 14

Arnold Schoenberg (1923) One of the composer’s earliest serial works.

Question 15

Wozzeck Act I, Scene I

Answer 15

Alan Berg (1925) Uses traditional instrumental forms (fugues, sonatas, and suites). From an existing play that is about the mental deterioration of an army soldier. Mistreated by everyone, he kills Marie, the mother of his son.

Question 16

Lyric Suite, Third Movement

Answer 16

Alan Berg (1926) takes a more liberal approach to serial composition in that it is not entirely 12-tone

Question 17

Five Pieces for String Quartet, Op. 5, No. 4

Answer 17

Anton Webern (1908) uses a limited number of building blocks of five or four notes.
Avoids triads, is extremely brief so as not to create a tonal center
“Cell” or “Set” theory used to analyze the piece