Romantic and Contemporary music

Question 1

Romantic music characteristics

Answer 1

expressive
large range of dynamics
larger orchestras
addition of instruments - wind, brass, harp, piano, piccolo, horn, percussion
addition of musical terms - dolce, cantabile, espressivo etc.

Question 2

Program and absolute music

Answer 2

program music = deptics scene, mood, story, legend, historical event
composers = Mendelssohn (Hebrides), Grieg (Peer Gynt), Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique)
absolute music = music for music’s sake

Question 3

Nationalism

Answer 3

type of program music
composers finding ways to represent country - folk music, geography, historical events
these were sometimes commissioned to celebrate events
composers = Tchaikovsky (1812), Smetana (Moldau), Borodin (Polovtsian dances), Dvorak (The New World Symphony)

Question 4

Evolution of music

Answer 4

valves were added to instruments
instruments became cheaper and therefore more accessible
more of the general public could participate and attend concerts
more conservatories
more technically challenging pieces
many chamber pieces were written

Question 5

Post-romanticism

Answer 5

late romantic characteristics
expansive melodies, chromaticism, large orchestrations, program music
composers = Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler

Question 6

Impressionism

Answer 6

use of non-traditional scales and modes
ninth chords and parallel harmonies
blurred meters and rhythms
composers = Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel (Jeux d’eau)

Question 7

Expressionism

Answer 7

early 20th century German style
extreme dissonance, irregular rhythmic groupings
12-tone
composers = Arnold Schonberg, Alban Berg

Question 8

Atonality

Answer 8

no keys or tonal centres

Question 9

Serialism

Answer 9

any number of elements (pitch, rhythm, dynamics) are organized using a specific ordering (a set)

Question 10

Neo-classicism

Answer 10

return to absolute music and traditional structures with 20th century sound
away from emotional connections
composers = Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring)

Question 11

Neo-romanticism

Answer 11

a return to tonality, full orchestrations, expansive and emotional melodies
later 20th century
composer = Samuel Barber (Adagio for Strings)

Question 12

Electronic

Answer 12

music created in part or whole with electronic sounds

may use recordings, synthesizers, computers

Question 13

Minimalism

Answer 13

later 20th century
seemingly endless repetition of short melodic patterns
composers = Phillip Glass, John Adams