Listening/Score

Question 1

Schoenberg: Piano Suite, Op. 25

Answer 1

Serialist, First 12 tone, Solo Piano

Question 2

Berg: Wozzeck

Answer 2

Opera in 3 acts (symmetrical), Listen for “Wozzeck”, oboe on top of score; Leitmotiv, Neoclassicist, Expressionism

Question 3

Webern: Symphony Op. 21

Answer 3

Klarinette at top of score, Hexachordal Combinatoriality (Serialism); Never exceeds 4 voice texture; Rests create transparency and klangfarbenmelodie

Question 4

Ives: In Flanders Fields

Answer 4

Combines American Tunes; Piano and soloist; McCrae - poet; social realism

Question 5

Ives: 4th Symphony

Answer 5

Two Conductors; Quotations Galore (juxtaposition); Piano & large orchestra, ff to pp; choir after intro;

Question 6

Copland: Piano Variations

Answer 6

Choppy, singular notes at a time - opening cell; Type of serialism (like octatonic);

Question 7

Copland: Appalachian Spring

Answer 7

Social Realism; pastoral; ballet - then suite, Gebrauchsmusik; Chores: Martha Graham; poem: Hart Crane “The Dance”

Question 8

Thomson: 4 Saints in 3 Acts

Answer 8

Gertrude Stein - helped Thomson to write; Maurice Grosser - painter friend who developed the plotless scenario; Harmonium/Accordion/Choir; Quotations (My Country)- Social Realism; all African American cast;

Question 9

Barber: Knoxville Summer of 1915

Answer 9

Woodwinds & Solo Voice; Text: James Agee; Social Realism; Commissioned by Eleanor Steber; based on Simple Motives;

Question 10

Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms

Answer 10

Snaking eighth notes with “random” accent; BSO 50th anniversary; No Violin/Viola - piano replaces them, SATB Choir; NeoClassicism

Question 11

Stravinsky: Mass

Answer 11

Neoclassicist, double wind quintet and choir

Question 12

Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps

Answer 12

wrote in war camp for instruments they could find: piano, cello, violin, clarinet; no feeling of meter(isorhythmic); experience the tones; Serialist; fascinated with medieval motet and Indian classical music;

Question 13

Britten: War Requiem

Answer 13

Latin and English Poetry: Wilfred Owens; Consecration for St. Michael’s Cathedral; Choir text: requiem; Starts very softly; bells; NeoClassicism

Question 14

Boulez: Le Marteau

Answer 14

Mvmt 3: Flute & Voice; “Schoenberg is Dead!”; Serializes everything (rhythm, dynamics, form, tone color); Non-western Instruments

Question 15

Stockhausen: Gruppen

Answer 15

3 orchestras for 3 conductors; horseshoe shape; groups are unified by common characteristics; Serialism; sounds unassuming/orchestral at first - bells & strings;

Question 16

Babbitt: Three Compositions for Piano

Answer 16

Total Serialist; “all combinatorial row”; “Who Cares if you Listen?”

Question 17

Carter: Symphony of Three Orchestras

Answer 17

3 Orchestras (concertante) -difficult trumpet part; Brooklyn Bridge (UFO attack) - Hart Crane; 45 note “tonic” chord = all interval chord; Collage/Kaleidoscope

Question 18

Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles

Answer 18

Dramatic/urging strings to begin (voices delayed entrance); Hexachordal Transposition Rotation; Serialist;

Question 19

Cage: Three Dances, mvmt 1 & 3

Answer 19

2 Amplified Prepared Pianos; Balinese-sounding; Merce Cunningham turned it into a dance piece (Dromenon); Avant-Garde

Question 20

Glass: Einstein

Answer 20

Voices counting (knee plays); Robert Wilson - experimental playwright; cyclic, pulsing, psychedelic; Minimalism;

Question 21

Riley: A Rainbow in Curved Air

Answer 21

80’s soundtrack; meant as piano solo, made from tape loops, ‘lag-time accumulator”, elements of Serialism; Minimalism;

Question 22

Varese - Poeme Electronique

Answer 22

taped sounds from 150 speakers; commissioned by Le Corbusier (fake name) for 1958 Brussels World Fair; Minimalism;

Question 23

Berio: Sinfonia

Answer 23

New Vocalism; voice for text and as a musical inst.; deconstructed text - manipulations of syllables; for the 125th anniversary of NY Phil; Large battery; Quotations

Question 24

Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children

Answer 24

Sop - sings into piano; boy soprano; Elizabeth Sprague Foundation commissioned; Text: Federico Garcia Lorca; musical saw, toy piano, tibetan prayer stones; New Virtuosity;

Question 25

Penderecki: Threnody

Answer 25

52 strings (horror movie); Weird violin playing techniques;

Question 26

Partch: Delusion

Answer 26

Newly created instruments; Gate 5 ensemble; sounds like bowls; sounds like homemade instruments;

Question 27

Saaiaho: Ariel’s Hail

Answer 27

soprano, flute, harp;