Terminology 4

Question 1

What are the types of settings for a lied?

Answer 1

1. Through composed (new music for each verse)
2. Strophic (same music for each verse)
3. Modified strophic (same music for each verse, with changes in some verses)

Question 2

What is a ballad/

Answer 2

Song based on the narrative type of folk verse and song

Question 3

What is a song cycle?

Answer 3

A set of songs meant to be performed together as a work, unified by a latent story line or by a common idea.

Question 4

What changes in instrumentation and poetry helped the development of the romantic german lied?

Answer 4

1. Development of romantic german lyrical poetry (short reflective lyrics based on nature and romantic ideas)
2. Improvements in the piano’s colour and expressive capabilities

Question 5

What characteristics were particular to Schubert’s lieds?

Answer 5

Vivid settings and partnership of piano and voice

Question 6

What characteristics were particular to Schumann’s lieds?

Answer 6

Assumes a strong literary background and uses preludes and postludes to create a strong partnership between the piano and voice.

Question 7

What changes to the piano led it to become a popular romantic instrument?

Answer 7

1. Larger range (7 octaves)
2. Stringing of the bass strings over the lighter strings
3. Double escapement (mechanism allowing for rapid action)
4. Metal frames (increased tension for more resonance and larger dynamic range)

Question 8

Which two composers contributed to the romantic piano technique?

Answer 8

Chopin and Liszt

Question 9

What two composers dominated Italian Opera in the 19th century?

Answer 9

Rossini and Verdi

Question 10

What were Rossini’s main contributions to Italian Opera?

Answer 10

1. Main composer of bel canto singing

2. Established many conventions that were popular throughout the century

Question 11

What is bel canto?

Answer 11

A style of singing that uses a light, agile voice to sing many difficult operatic lines.

Question 12

What are the sections of Rossini’s duet?

Answer 12

1. Scena (recitative-like dialogue)
2. Tempo d’attacco (Changes in accompaniment that begin the duet with more melodic lines)
3. Cantabile (lyrical section denoting a moment of calm)
4. Tempo di mezzo (an event or revelation changes the situation)
5. Cabalette (usually faster; release of emotion brought on by the tempo di mezzo)

Question 13

What are the two types of cantabile?

Answer 13

Similar (two voices exchange similar phrases or sections; showing unity) and dissimilar (two voices have different phrases or sections; showing disagreement)

Question 14

What were Verdi’s main contributions to Italian Opera?

Answer 14

Expanded on Rossinian conventions and moved towards a continuously unfolding opera

Question 15

What happens in act I of Verdi’s La Traviata?

Answer 15

Violetta Valery throws a party to celebrate her recovery from tuberculosis. Alfredo Germont attends the party and confesses his love for her. Violetta does not believe that love can exist and instead decides to devote her life to pleasure rather than love.

Question 16

What happens in act II of Verdi’s La Traviata?

Answer 16

Alfredo and Violetta live together in the country with Violetta selling off their possessions to support them. Alfredo’s father Giorgio arrives and convinces Violetta to leave Alfredo. She writes him a note but he returns before she can finish. She pleads with him to love her but eventually leaves anyway.

Later in the act, Violetta and her new lover the Baron Douphol are at a party in Paris when Alfredo arrives to convince her to return. She is still in love with him but refuses to admit it to him. He then implies that she is a prostitute, which humiliates her to the point of fainting.

Question 17

What happens in act III of Verdi’s La Traviata?

Answer 17

Violetta is dying, alone except for her maid Annina. She gets a letter from Giorgio telling her that he has explained everything to Alfredo and that he is on his way back to her. Alfredo begs for forgiveness but Violetta dies in his arms.

Question 18

What was the precursor to Wagner’s music dramas?

Answer 18

Singspiel: German operas consisting of spoken dialogue and sung set pieces

Question 19

What innovations did Wagner bring to harmony?

Answer 19

1. Tonality by implication (floating tonality; passages where the tonic is implied without being stated or where the music rapidly changes keys without settling down)
2. Freer treatment of dissonances
3. Displaced chordal tones creating new sonorities
4. Evasion of perfect authentic cadences (often using deceptive cadences)
5. Large emotional climaxes

Question 20

What is a music drama?

Answer 20

A through-composed opera where every aspect of the work serves to the expression and evolution of the drama.

Question 21

What is a gesamtkunstwerk?

Answer 21

An art form that combines music, art, poetry, staging, actions, etc. to express the drama; a total art form.

Question 22

What is a leitmotif?

Answer 22

A motive that represents a character, object, or idea in the opera that can be manipulated to express new ideas.

Question 23

What is the antecedent action in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde?

Answer 23

Tristan kills Morold to help his uncle (King Marke) pay tribute to the King of Ireland. Wounded in the fight by a poisoned sword, he changes his name to Tantris and asks Morold’s fiancé Isolde for help. She helps him but realizes who he is. She tries to kill him but realizes that she is in love with him. Tristan returns to Cornwall to brag and then offers to go back to Ireland to woo Isolde for the King Marke.

Question 24

What happens in act I of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde?

Answer 24

On the ship back to Cornwall, Isolde is angry over Tristan’s betrayal and challenges him to drink their health. She intends to poison the drinks so they can die together, but her handmaid cannot bring herself to do it. Instead she poisons the drinks with a love potion, and the two are immediately overcome with love just as the king arrives on board.

Question 25

What happens in act II of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde?

Answer 25

Tristan and Isolde meet outside the castle while the king and his men are hunting. Their love duet is interrupted by the return of the king and his courtier Melot. Melot is overcome with jealousy and the two fight, leaving Tristan wounded.

Question 26

What happens in act III of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde?

Answer 26

Tristan is dying from his wounds as he waits for Isolde to arrive. She confesses to King Marke who has allowed her to see Tristan. He dies in her arms as she arrives. As King Marke arrives, Tristan’s servant Kurvenal kills Melot but also dies from his wounds. Isolde finishes the love duet from act II and dies over Tristan’s body.