Modern Era Part Two Flashcards
serialism
A compositional approach developed in the 20thcentury by the Second Viennese School; any number of musical parameters (such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tone colour) are organized using a specific ordering (set) that undergoes manipulation
twelve-tone music
A method of composition developed by Schoenberg; an approach used to organize atonal music arranging the twelve tones of the chromatic scale in a fixed order
inversion
rewriting a melody upside down; intervals ascending now descend etc.
retrograde
rewriting a melody backward
tone row
fixed order of the twelve chromatic pitches; the basis of a twelve-tone composition
Symphony, op. 21 genre, composition date, structure, performing forces
Genre- orchestral work
Composition date- 1928
Structure- two movements, based on the same tone row
Performing forces- chamber orchestra: violin, violas, cellos, two harps, clarinet, bass clarinet, two horns
Symphony, op. 21 mvmt 2 compositional approach, form, meter
Compositional approach- twelve-tone method
Form- theme and seven variations
Meter- 2/4
Symphony, op. 21
Variation 1- Lebhafter (livelier)
Variation 2- Sehr lebhaft (very lively)
Variation 3- Wieder mässiger (again more moderately)
Variation 4- Ausserst ruhig (Extremely quiet)
Variation 5- Sehr lebhaft (very lively)
Variation 6 -Marschmässig (Marchlike)
Variation 7- Etwas breitar (Somewhat broadened)
Coda- Original row and retrograde form employed
Anton Webern dates
1883-1945
Webern musical style
-a member of the Second Viennese School
-influenced by Schoenberg, his teacher, and by his studies of musicology under Guido Adler at the University of Vienna
-Twelve-tone works display a radical, strict approach: not only pitch but also rhythm and dynamics are at times subject to mathematical ordering
-preferred traditional forms and absolute music
-incorporates many canonic and palindromic elements
-instrumental writing features Klangfarbenmelodie
Webern Compositions
Compositions: Im Sommerwind, Passacaglia, op. 1; Symphony, op. 21; Variations, op. 30, Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Kinderstuck, Sacred Songs, Five Canons and Latin Texts, Das Augenlicht
neo-Classicism
a post-World War I style marked by a return to absolute music and traditional formal structures
ostinato
a short rhythmic or melodic pattern repeated throughout a section or a work
polytonality
the simultaneous use of two or more keys
Concerto for Orchestra genre, composition date, structure
Genre- orchestral work
Composition date- 1943
Structure- five movements
Concerto for Orchestra key, form, tempo, meter
Key- begins in E Lydian and ends in B major with modal inflections
Form- rondo-like (introduction ABA1CB1A2)
Tempo- Allegretto
Meter- changing meter
Concerto for Orchestra
Introduction- violins, violas and cellos play a four-note motive in unison outlining the tritone (A sharp down to E)
Section A- A folk-like melody in the oboe outlines a tritone, expanded in the woodwinds accompanied by its inversion, meter changes frequently
Section B- marked calmo and cantabile, strikes an elegiac note with a sweeping lyrical melody in the violas
Section A1- abbreviated statement of the opening melody, increased dissonance
Section C2: The Inturruption- Clarinet introduces a light-hearted melody, similar to “Da geh’; ich zu Maxin” from Franz Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow, clangorous dissonances heightened by brass glissandi
Section B1- sweeping melody returns, dispelling the cacophony created by the “interruption”
Section A2- woodwinds state fragments of the opening theme, extended flute cadenza
General tempo of Concerto for Orchestra all movements
Medium, medium fast, and fast
Form all movements of Concerto for Orchestra
1- sonata
2- scherzo trio
3-free-form
4-ABA1CBA1
5-sonata
Bartók dates
1881-1945
Bartók life
-born in Hungary (now in Romania)
-father was headmaster of an agricultural school and an amateur musician; mother was a piano teacher
-started piano lessons with his mother at age five; father died when Bartók was seven
-shy and serious by nature; health was never robust
-first major success was his nationalist symphonic poem Kossuth
-travelled extensively to collect and record folk songs
-taught at Budapest Academy for over twenty years
-married Marta Aiegler, a piano student; their son Béla was born in 1910
-married Ditta Pásztory, his piano student, after divorcing Marta; they had a son, Peter
-Toured the US successfully
-enjoyed increasing international fame
-visiting lecturer at Harvard but didn’t finish his 2nd lecture series due to illness
-medical treatment paid for by ASCAP though he wasn’t a member
-Concerto for Orchstra commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchstra
-died in New York City
Bartók musical style
-early compositions showed post-romantic style
-Folk elements: pentatonic and other non-traditional scales, irregular rhythms and phrase structures, dance types
-Expressionist elements are present in his opera, Bluebeard’s Castle
-employed contrapuntal textures and neo-Classical forms such as fugue, sonata, rondo, cyclic structure; for example, Sonatina
-compositional devices including palidromic forms and mathematical principles, such as the fibonacci series
-percussive approach to instrumental writting and harmonic dissonance