Musical Modernism in Vienna

Question 1

First Viennese School

Answer 1

Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Question 2

Second Viennese School

Answer 2

Schoenberg, Bern, and Webern.

Question 3

The school of thought of the Second Viennese School was ___.

Answer 3

Atonality.

Question 4

Musical style of Arnold Schoenberg:

Answer 4

• Musically progressive; beyond chromaticism, beyond normal musical means.
• Extremes of expression: beyond “normal psychology.”

Question 5

“Beauty exists only from that moment when unproductive people begin to find it lacking.” Who said this?

Answer 5

Schoenberg.

Question 6

Elements of Expressionism in art:

Answer 6

• The most extreme human feelings.

- The artist’s inner turbulence.

Question 7

How can music express the same feelings as expressionism in art?

Answer 7

Atonality.

Question 8

Atonality was the ___ of dissonance.

Answer 8

Emancipation.

Question 9

How is atonality different from dissonance?

Answer 9

Atonality is much more extreme.

Question 10

Webern

Answer 10

Extremely influential after the Second World War. Tiny fragments, varied colours, thin texture. Highly concentrated.

Question 11

Commedia Dell’arte

Answer 11

Full of stock characters. Puts typical characters in bizarre situations.

Question 12

Passacaglia

Answer 12

Ostinato of chords. Repeating pattern of chords.

Question 13

Sprechstimme

Answer 13

Speech-song. Distorted, haunted, expressive. Singer does not sing, but rather implies. Half-speaking, half-singing.