Music History 11/9 Flashcards

1
Q

American Music History

A

As a young country, it had no cultural past. Had to draw upon European culture.
Composers at the time studied in Europe and were romanticists who came on the scene too late. Were overshadowed by greater composers of Europe

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2
Q

American

A

Edward MacDowell was 19th Century ___ composer with some name recognition

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3
Q

19 Century American Composer

A

Edward MacDowell

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4
Q

Americans, American

A

____ were inferior as musicians and composers, ___ style of writing was needed.

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5
Q

American Impressionists

A

The music scene switched from German Romanticism to French Impressionism - American composers began to be noticed - with a new kind of music, comparisons were not so apt to be made

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6
Q

Charles Griffes

A

___________ was most prominent of American Impressionists

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7
Q

American Impressionism

A

Noted for White Peacock and Poem for Flute, Charles Griffes

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8
Q

Charles Ives

A

Did not have fame until after his death but is considered father of American music. First original voice of American composers

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9
Q

Charles Ives

A

Born in Conn, father was a musician who challenged his son and family musically.

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10
Q

Charles Ives

A

Studied at Yale with Horatio Parker

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11
Q

Charles Ives

A

Was not a musician by vocation but owned an insurance company. Wrote music on weekends.

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12
Q

Charles Ives

A

Conductors would not play his music, scoffed at it. Stopped composing at 44 after illness, many years later his music first gained attention in Europe. Concord Sonata gained him recognition.

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13
Q

Charles Ives

A

Began music to be popular, his third symphony was awarded Pulitzer Prize in 1947. Then 2nd symphony was performed 50 years after it was composed

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14
Q

Charles Ives

A

Made use of hymns, folk, and popular songs indigenous to America

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15
Q

Charles Ives

A

Subjects were American. 4th of July, Central Park in the Dark, Three Places in New England, etc

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16
Q

Charles Ives

A

Influenced by childhood experiences like two bands in a parade playing in different keys and tempi (Putnam’s camp)

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17
Q

Charles Ives

A

Used polytonality, atonality, clusters, and polyrthyms

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18
Q

Charles Ives

A

One of the first to write without bars or time signature

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19
Q

New Music in America

A

New music began to be promoted in our universities and by conductors in the 1920’s. This gave composers more exposure to public and hence more acceptance.

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20
Q

New Music in America

A

Music scene shifted from Vienna to France. American composers went to France to study.

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21
Q

Nadia Boulanger

A

Who did composers study with in France?

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22
Q

Nadia Boulanger

A

Most prominent teacher in France

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23
Q

Nadia Boulanger

A

Pupils were Copland, Harris, Piston, Thomson.

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24
Q

Copland, Harris, Piston, Thomson

A

these composers found recognition in the 30’s but there were still some who were not interested din neoclassicism. These were the experimentalists.

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25
Q

Edgard Varese

A

Born in Paris, came to US in 1915.

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26
Q

Edgard Varese

A

Founded international Composer’s guild to perform new works, gave American Premier of Pierrot Lunaire

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27
Q

Edgard Varese

A

Public did not like his works. Quit composing in 1930’s. He was the first to experiment with electronic music and turned his attention to that.

28
Q

Edgard Varese

A

He resumed composing again in 1952 - by this time the world had caught up with what he was doing and he gained much recognition

29
Q

Edgard Varese

A

One of the extreme radicals of music at the time
Music rejected tonality, interest in rhythm, sound for sound’s sake

30
Q

Edgard Varese

A

Melody and Harmony per se were rejected in favor of sonority (sound masses) and polyrhythm. Had interest in percussion

31
Q

Edgard Varese

A

Used good titles! Density 21.5, Hyperprism, Ionisation, etc.

32
Q

Edgard Varese

A

Music sounded like none heard before, totally original. Mostly interested in winds and percussion.

33
Q

Henry Cowell

A

First of the so-called experimentalists
Had an interest in music of Far East, was influenced by it

34
Q

Henry Cowell

A

Used tone clusters for sound rather than harmony, was interested in sound and sonority. Music encompassed aleatory, atonality, polytonality.

35
Q

American Folk Song

A

In 30’s, ____ began to interest more composers in the midst of the Depression. More American composers were being published and commissioned.

36
Q

Henry Cowell

A

ASCAP and BMI took interest in classical composer awarding him shares of revenues from performances.

37
Q

New York

A

During the late 30s, many composers left Europe and _____ began the musical center for the world.

38
Q

American Composers

A

Active as teachers, conductors, and performers and influenced music in America. Used folksong and subjects that were uniquely American.

39
Q

Jazz Music

A

Had a huge influence on American Music

40
Q

George Gershwin

A

Born in Brooklyn, had an interest in Jazz at an early age

41
Q

George Gershwin

A

Wrote songs for a publisher at the beginning. Got fame with Swanee by AI Jolson.

42
Q

George Gershwin

A

Brother Ira was his lyricist. Wrote very original songs, lyrical melodies with chromatic harmonies and sudden modulations

43
Q

George Gershwin

A

Rhapsody in Blue was first and most famous orchestra piece with piano solo. Concerto in F also sought to synthesize jazz and classical

44
Q

George Gershwin

A

American In Paris best known musical. Porgy and Bess - Folk opera about African-Amerian life in America

45
Q

George Gershwin

A

Died at 38
Used ragtime, jazz, and blues was not stale like the European attempts

46
Q

George Gershwin

A

We have a tendency to think of him as a broadway composer byt he was respected as a great American composer by many other composers including Schoenberg and Ravel

47
Q

Aaron Copland

A

Born in Brooklyn, America’s foremost composer. Interested in composing at an early age.

48
Q

Aaron Copland

A

American Composer that studied with Nadia Boulanger in France and was greatly influenced by

49
Q

Aaron Copland

A

Followed some of the experimental paths in early works. He became more conservative later.

50
Q

Aaron Copland

A

Instrumental in helping American and Latin American composers through League of Composers and American Composers Alliance. He was concerned in his early period that he was not relating to public through music

51
Q

Aaron Copland

A

His music strove to be “American” using American subjects, jazz, cowboy music

52
Q

Aaron Copland

A

Musical texture is not thick, but simple and straightforward. Harmony is primarily diatonic but imaginative. Melody is simple, rhythm is strong. Liked change of meter and syncopation

53
Q

Samuel Barber

A

Born in Pennsylvania to a musical family. Entered Curtis institute in ‘24 and studied composition and piano. Joined faculty at Curtis in ‘39-42

54
Q

Samuel Barber

A

Won Prix de Rome in ‘35. Wrote symphony in one movement

55
Q

Samuel Barber

A

Regarded as a strong melodist and art song composer. Neo-romantic style, harmonies tonal, some free chromaticism.

56
Q

Samuel Barber

A

Fine orchestrator, most performed American composer at one time. Received Pulitzer Prize in ‘58 for opera Vanessa and in ‘63 for Piano Con.

57
Q

Leonard Bernstein

A

First American born and trained conductor of NY Philharmonic
First-rate pianist, conductor, composer, and educator

58
Q

Leonard Bernstein

A

Music is very “American,” use of jazz rhythms and broadway influence. Melody and harmony are conventional and generally tonal.

59
Q

Leonard Bernstein

A

Wrote equally successfully for the musical theatre: West Side Story, On the Town, as well as “classical” music via symphonies etc. and opera candide

60
Q

American Composers

A

Carl Ruggles, Ferde Grofe’ Walter Piston, Howard Hanson

61
Q

American Composers

A

Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, Lou Harrison

62
Q

American Composers

A

William Schuman, Alan Hovhaness, Vincent Persichetti

63
Q

Hector Villa-Lobos

A

Fused music of Brazil with classical writing

64
Q

Choros, Hector Villa-Lobos

A

Series of pieces fusing Brazillian, Indian, and popular melodies of the people. Written for different instrument combinations.

65
Q

Carlos Chavez - Mexico

A

Drew upon Aztec culture and Mexican folk music Neoclassical style of writing