songs Flashcards
Viderunt Omnes
Anonymous
Medieval
gregorian chant for christmas day.
religious chant.
text-setting, syllabic or melismatic.
Columba Aspexit
Hildegard von Bingen
Medieval
chant –> monophonic, nonmetrical, way of setting apart and elevating a text as something sacred.
sent letters. music is notable for its melismas and wide range (high vs low pitch)
Ave Maria
Josquin
Renaissance
balancing complexity and simplicity, structure and variation.
polyphonic piece with Latin text.
imitative polyphony– same melody but starts singing at different times, imitating previous voices.
Moro Lasso
Carlo Gesualdo
Renaissance
polyphonic madrigal. killing, death.
word painting.
Che si puo fare (What can you do)
Barbara Strozzi
Renaissance
word painting.
Orfeo
Claudio Monteverdi
Baroque
first major surviving opera. variety of arias, duets, and dances. for local academic/intellectual society. for very small audience unlike today’s operas.
C Major Prelude
J.S. Bach
Baroque
musical god!!!
philosopher of human experience. sacred and secular music.
C Major Fugue
J.S. Bach
Baroque
compositional technique based on imitation.
subject is the main musical idea. counterpoint is the composition of two or more melodic lines simultaneously independent and create harmony tg.
Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar)
G.F. Handel
Baroque
composer of operas, oratorios, and instrumental music.
public opera, cosmopolitan, highly formulaic.
Porgi Amor (The Marriage of Figaro)
W.A. Mozart
Classical
gained fame as child prodigy. Opera buffa: comic opera. psychologically complex characters through music. harness musical conventions to advance dramatic action. Overture– piece of music that introduces & sets the tone for the opera.
Violin Concerto 9
Joseph Bologne
Classical
french enlightenment.
violin concertos. operas, symphonic-concerto. transition in musical economy: private patron –> public market for music.
Rondeau/rondo– keeps returning. ABACA
Symphony no 5
Ludwig van Beethoven
Classical
german composer and pianist. composed in all genres, but particularly renowned for his symphonies.
classical to romantic era.
classical, heroic, late.
motivic, almost entirely based on one melodic cell (motif).
struggle between major and minor.
Erlkonig (Elf-King)
Franz Schubert
Romantic
romanticism is longing for escape, god, connection to nature, means to express what is inexpressible.
solo voice with piano accompaniment (equal partners), settings of romantic poetry, intimate setting.
Im wunderschonen Monat Mai (In the beautiful month of may)
Robert Schumann
romantic
piano music – poems set to music that tell a story/connected by theme.
abusive relationship w clara
Liebst du um Schonheit (if you love for beauty)
Clara Schumann
Romantic
child prodigy. reshaped the recital genre. performing from memory.
Ballade No. 1
Frederic Chopin
Romantic
primarily composed for solo piano. ballade –> long narrative poem.
Prelude to Tristan and Isolde
Richard Wagner
Romantic
combining all aspects of music drama. music, words, staging, space.
Leifmotifs. He didn’t have the traditional opera form.
talks a lot about the operatic form and how he strays from that.
The Sunken Cathedral
Claude Debussy
Impressionism: harmony for tone color, expanded scales, sonic bleeding, freedom of rhythm (meter obscured).
Modernism– shocking means of expression, inflected by science, tech, industry, urbaniation, nationalism, imperialism of late 19th century. isolation and alienation of individual.
Pierrot Lunaire
Arnold Schoenberg
Modernism
Expressionism– subjective expression of an individual’s inner psyche in all its turbulence. abrupt, shocking contrasts, extreme harmonic experimentation
atonal music– not centered around a certain pitch.
Sprechstimme– speech singing.
The Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky
Modernism
ballet
melody– short, cyclic, folk-like, ostinatos (short repeated musical phrases)
harmony– modern and modal (sound old)
rhythm is complex, relentless (driving force)
meter– extremely complex
timbre– huge orchestra, dry, percussive timbre
timbre– blocks of sound.
Deep River
Harry T. Burleigh
20th Century United States
synthesized oral tradition of spirituals with Romantic art song techniques.
West End Blues
Louis Armstrong
20th Century United States
It Don’t Mean a Thing
Duke Ellington
20th Century United States
Afro-American Symphony
William Grant Still
20th Century United States
symphonies, operas, and film scores. Harlem renaissance. fuses blues and symphonic elements
Strange Fruit
Abel Meeropol, Billie Holiday
20th Century United States
protest song/music. think about the importance of the performance, intended audience, etc.
Mississippi Goddamn
Nina Simone
20th Century United States
think about intended audience.
activist. song was censored in several states. protest music.
Sonata 5
John Cage
20th Century United States
think about his vision of music. prepared piano – placed objects on piano.
indeterminacy, chance music. questioned traditional music aesthetics.
A Love Supreme (or Psalm from A Love Supreme)
John Coltrane
20th Century United States
jazz saxophonist and composer. bebop to free jazz. explored new harmonic possibilities.
psalms are a song of praise, lamentation, and thanksgiving. sacred texts. often addressed to god.
Tehillim (or Psalms)
Steve Reich
20th Century United States
shift attention from he and she and you outward toward it.
minimalism –> musical style w/ minimal musical material and emphasis on change/process.
consonant and consistent and harmony. steady beat. additive layers.
tech and phase process.
