Mystery Score #2: Scores

Question 1

Strauss, Don Quixote (NAWM 158)

Answer 1

• Symphonic poem
• Based on Miguel de Cervantes
• Theme and variations
  
  • Don Quixote theme
  • Sancha Panza theme (viola)
  • Episodes: fighting giants (windmills), fighting an army (sheep)

Question 2

Brahms, Quintet for Piano and Strings, Op. 34, mvt. 1 (NAWM 156)

Answer 2

• Developing variation
• Ex.
  
  • Opening motive – 16th note diminution spins out throughout the movement
• Building a cohesive movement out of one melodic idea

Question 3

Brahms, Symphony No. 4, mvt. 4 (NAWM 155)

Answer 3

• Riffs off historical models
• Mvt. 4 has Baroque style Chaconne
  
  • Bassline adapted from Bach cantata
• Parallels with Eroica
  
  • Use of variations
  • Bassline theme presented in different registers
  • Arranges variations in quasi-sonata form

Question 4

Puccini, Madama Butterfly (NAWM 151)

Answer 4

• Pinkerton and butterfly
• Mixes 5 different styles
  
  • Puccini’s normative style
  • Hybrid – westernized Japanese style
  • Traditional Japanese style
  • Deliberately simple “official” style
  • Brief nod to American music with Star Spangle Banner

Question 5

Verdi, La traviata, excerpts (NAWM 150 a–e)

Answer 5

• Full example of scena ed aria
• Accompanied recitative
• Tempo d’attacco – characters in dialoque
• Cantabile – sentimental expression of hope
• Tempo di mezzo – action (Violetta faints)
• Cabaletta – the reality of the situation hits them

Question 6

Wagner, Die Walküre

Answer 6

1

Question 7

Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, excerpts (NAWM 149 a and b)

Answer 7

• Gesamtkunstwerk
• Based on 13th century romance (nationalism)
• Prelude introduces leitmotifs
• VERY slow pacing, unlike Rossini

Question 8

Weber, Der Freischütz, excerpts (NAWM 148 a–c)

Answer 8

• Folk legend
• Juxtaposes natural and supernatural
• Conflict between good vs. evil
• Vocal elements
  
  • Singspiel (speaking and singing, used as signs of the character’s status)
  • Folk song like melodies – simple, strophic, diatonic melodies
• Orchestral techniques
  • Melodrama – orchestra’s dramatic role
  • Harmony supports drama (ex. Samiel (the Devil) is accompanied by the tritone)

Question 9

Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots, excerpts (NAWM 147 a–d)

Answer 9

• Historical drama – struggle for religious freedom
• French Grand Opera
• Similar to trajedie lyrique
  
  • LOTS of people onstage (supernumeraries)
  • Grand choruses (simple melodies and syllabic texts)

Question 10

Bellini, Norma, excerpt (NAWM 146)

Answer 10

• Cantabile
• ABA Form
• Coloratura
• Italian Opera
• Textbook example of bel canto style

Question 11

Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia, excerpt (NAWM 145)

Answer 11

• Premiered in Naples
• Same story set by Paisiello
• Rapid patter singing style
• Lots of ensembles
• Cantabile and cabaletta complex (basically scena ed aria without the tempo di mezzo)
• Cavatina – entrance aria

Question 12

Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor, mvt. 1 (NAWM 139)

Answer 12

• 3 movements played without pause
• Skips orchestral exposition
• Cadenza is moved to right before recap (unlike Mozart concertos)
• Mixed lyrical and virtuosic style

Question 13

Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, mvt. 5: The Witches Sabbath (NAWM 138) Mvts. 1–4 (On Spotify)

Answer 13

• FORM: Program Symphony, distributed to the audience
• FORM: Fast finale (5 movements)
• COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES
  
  • Diminished 7th chord and tritones associated with the diabolical
  • Flutters in strings = ghosts
• NOTABLE ITEMS
  
  • Idée fixe (obsession)
  • Dies irae (Gregorian Chant sequence sung during the Mass of the Dead)
  • Col legno (Playing strings with wood of the bow)

Question 14

Clara Schumann, Piano Trio in G Minor, mvt. 3 (NAWM 142)

Answer 14

• Trio for violin, cello, and piano
• Conversation between the instruments
• 4 movements – Sonata form, scherzo, slow ABA, sonata form

Question 15

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Das Jahr: December (NAWM 133)

Answer 15

• GENRE:
  
  • Cycle of Character Pieces
• FORM:
  
  • No Standard Form
• COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES:
  • Flurry & Snowstorm (Sixteenth notes with pedal)
• Hymn tune – Von Himmel Hoch
• Christmas hymn - Lutheran

Question 16

Niccolò Paganini, Caprice No. 24 (On Spotify)

Answer 16

1

Question 17

Franz Liszt, Trois études de concert: No. 3, Un Sospiro (NAWM 136)

Answer 17

• Concert etude
• Character piece
• Technically challenging – broken chords, parallel 6ths, rolled octaves, melody buried in texture
• Melding of three forms: variations, enlarged ternary, sonata form

Question 18

Chopin, Mazurka in B-flat Major (NAWM 134)

Answer 18

• FORM:
  
  • AA ||: BA :||: CA :||
• Polish folk dance
• ¾ with emphasis on beat 2
• Dotted figures
• Instrumental melody
• Imitates string instruments with slurs
• Incorporates folk elements (trills, grace notes, large leaps, drone 5ths)

Question 19

Chopin, Nocturne in D-flat Major (NAWM 135)

Answer 19

• Bel canto quality
• Treble dominated
• Consonant accompaniments
• Modified strophic
• Virtuosic elements (parallel 6ths, wide leaps, cadenza-like passages)

Question 20

Schumann, Dichterliebe, No. 1, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (NAWM 130)

Answer 20

• GENRE: Song Cycle
• FORM: Strophic
• COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES
  
  • Tonal ambiguity
  • 
Lack of resolution
  • Unfulfilled longing of the lover

Question 21

Schubert, Winterreise, No. 5, Der Lindenbaum (NAWM 129)

Answer 21

• GENRE
  
  • Song Cycle, Performed without pause to complete story
• FORM NAME
  
  • Modified Strophic form AA’BA
• COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES
  
  • Fluttering triplet figuration (breezes and wind)
  • Folklike melody
• NOTABLE ITEMS
  
  • Poetry and music enhance its meaning

Question 22

Schubert, Der Erlkönig (On Spotify)

Answer 22

• FORM: Through Composed
• Text by Goethe
• Not the first setting, but the most popular one by far
• Piano plays it’s own role
• Range of the vocalist important to the character (little boy, father, Death)

Question 23

Schubert, Gretchen am Spinnrade (NAWM 128)

Answer 23

• German Lied
• Text by Goethe
• Modified strophic form
• Piano playing its own character
• Spinning wheel is representing Gretchens mental state (left hand)

Question 24

Beethoven, String Quartet, Op. 131 (NAWM 127 a and b)

Answer 24

• Very strange sonata form
• 7 movements
• Late period (experimental period)

Question 25

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, mvt 1 (NAWM 126)

Answer 25

* Eroica Symphony, Heroic (middle) period * Originally dedicated to Napoleon, then changed after he turned psycho * Sonata form * Not widely accepted until MUCH later * Too modern, VERY long, very different overall * Groundbreaking symphony * Very large orchestra * Not treble dominated like earlier music

Question 26

Beethoven, Piano Sonata in C Minor (NAWM 125)

Answer 26

* Piano sonata * Sonata form with slow introduction * Subtitle both romantic and classical. Meant to make it more marketable by making it more relatable (classical), invokes meaning behind the piece (Pathos is suffering, pain, and grief) (romantic)