schubert

Question 1

mood

Answer 1

• flowing and meditative piece
• grows increasingly shadowy and dramatic in a middle section marked by frequent modulations and rumbling bass trills
• key lends a gorgeous, resonant warmth to the music (ultimately ‘deep’ key - passionate intensity
  no.3 is quintessence of slow moving schubert melody over a flowing arpeggiated accompaniment

Question 2

ave maria

Answer 2

op52 no6
- Coming after the tumultuous E-flat Impromptu, the G-flat Impromptu feels like an oasis of calm with its serene, nocturne-like melody (lyrical and almost reverent melody)
- confirms Schubert’s penchant for long melodic lines - as a melodist that he formed and sustained his reputation as song composer

irony is that melodies depend heavily on accompaniments for their effect
- ave maria relies on regular triplets and deceptive cadences of the piano part (SAME AS IMPROMPTU)

Question 3

pianist

Answer 3

alfred brendel
vladimir horowitz

Question 4

who influenced schubert

Answer 4

• michael holzer - counterpoint
• amalgam of the grammar of haydn and mozart

Question 5

what characterises schubert

Answer 5

profound feelings, spontaneous but controlled force, appealing charm

celebrated melodic gift - resists generalisation

extension of tonic-dominant classical harmonic discourse to a full range of harmonic relationships
blurring and intensified colourist use of the major-minor system

Question 6

Wanderer Fantasy in C major

Answer 6

unusual virtuosity and construction - fascinating for romantics
product of stylistic exploration and expirementation

Question 7

what else did he write in 1827

Answer 7

life threatening illness - sharpened sense of own mortality

piano trio in b flat minor + e flat minor
- fluid textures - strings playing in unison with piano thematic elementa
two third of songs that he wrote are in minor

between 1821 and 1828 more than 100 opuses

Question 8

schubert’s lieders

Answer 8

winterreise song cycle 1828
gute nacht - opening movement
+ stimme der liebe 1816 passes through 6 remote keys in 30 bars (wagners harmonic daring)

raises lied to a central genre in ability to fuse poetry and music in ways that seen not only unique but inevitable
- layers of meaning and stylistic intersection

Question 9

schuberts viennese pianos

Answer 9

made little use of low extra notes available on larger viennese pianos from 1816 (borrows instruments did not include those notes)
- still exploits pianos tone colour + extends singing qualities of viennese piano

Question 10

a minor piano sonatas of 1823 and 1825

Answer 10

1st - bleak, compact, yet teeming with ideas
2nd - thematic richness and variety + conceived on more symphonic scale

Question 11

final b flat major piano sonata

Answer 11

suffused by the composers characteristic emlancholy, mingled with a feeling of contemplative ecstasy

Question 12

what is an impromptu

Answer 12

a free-form musical composition with the character of an improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for piano

Chopin composed 4 Impromptus, including the Fantaisie-Impromptu

Scriabin wrote at least nine impromptus for the piano in his early period.

schumann op5

liszt impromptu in f sharp

schuberts are examples of the romantic genre of short, self contained piano pieces
- compositional freedom stimulate origianal creations

Question 13

how many symphonies

Answer 13

9

Question 14

pieces for piano and other instruments

Answer 14

4 Violin Sonatas

Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor

Over 600 Lieders for piano and voice

Question 15

beethoven

Answer 15

wrote 32 piano sonatas
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor
6 piano concertos