test 2 Flashcards
Define the musical characteristics of the Folk Spiritual.
Responsorial Structure, call and response.
Gapped scales
Heterophonic texture
Slides
Interjections
Syncopations
Text: Biblical stories, personal emotional experiences, nature.
Describe Burleigh’s career, including works he composed and arranged.
Career: composer, editor, and singer.
Works: Art song arrangements of spirituals
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Define Concert Spirituals
Black melodies mixed with European harmonies.
Describe Hensel’s life and the issues that surrounded her. becoming a professional composer.
Came from a wealthy family who saw it as improper for a woman of high nobility to work, so she was not allowed to by her family.
Describe the text-music relationships in Hensel’s “Bitte”, including harmonies.
“Take this world away from me” with an ascending melody.
G to Gb step on the word solemn.
No authentic cadences in whole piece.
Describe Tom Wiggin’s accomplishments
Born blind.
Born into Slavery.
Learned to play piano by ear and began touring at age 8 via his owners management.
Performed at the White House in 1860 celebrating Confederate victory.
Define Grand Opera
Everything is big.
Big casts, extravagant scenery and costumes.
Very long (5 acts)
Singing and Dancing
Define Melodrama
Spoken word over orchestral accompaniment
Rossini
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, “Una voce poco fa”
Verdi
La Traviata Act 3 scena and duet
Wagner
Tristan und Isolde, Act 1 Scene 5.
Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov Coronation Scene
Barbieri
El Barberillo de Lavapies nos 9 and 10
Puccini
Madama Butterfly excerpt from act 1
Brahms
Piano Quintet in F minor, op. 34, mvmt. 1
Strauss
Don Quixote
Describe how Developing Variations work in the first half of this movement.
1st theme made of four small motives that he later separates and varies.
Give an example of developing variations in Brahms Piano Quintet op 34 mvmt 1
Mm. 12 starts with W motive then repeats it and sequences it, while creating the sequence he puts up a semitone G to Ab, now it goes down a semitone that later takes on it’s own life.
Diagram and explain the features of the movements sonata form
Three Key exposition
1st theme C major
2nd theme E Flat major
closing. G Major
Recap
C Major
A Flat Major
C Major
How many keys are there in the exposition and what are they? How does it differ from the ones used by Mozart?
3, CM, EbM, GM
A typical sonata form would transition from the Tonic to the Dominant, but this one transitions from CM, to Eb, to GM
Explain the form of Don Quixote and how it differs from standard double theme and variations
The form of this movement is Double Theme and Variation, but the episodes introduce new music each time & represent one of their adventures. There are fragments of both Don Quixote’s theme and his side-kick Sancho Panza before introducing the new episode
Explain ways the program is depicted in variations 1 and 2 in Don Quixote.
Variation 1: the story depicts his battle with an old wooden windmill, which is represented in the program by the string s playing on the back of their bow to give the feeling of creaking wood.
Variation 2: the episode depicts sheep in a field.
Describe Mussorgsky’s innovative harmonies in Boris Godunov and how they relate to nationalism in Russia.
Adds more instruments and increasingly louder dynamics to get to the climax instead of harmonic drive.
Harmonies written because of color and not western harmonic rules.
- Pedal point on C to establish and maintain tonic.
- Ab 7 and D7 chord progression
- The two seventh chords that are a tritone apart which makes it static.
- Both have C in them.
- EM CM AM EM chord progression in brass parts (shared note of E
Who is the Librettist of Boris Godunov?
Puskin
What is the Libretto of Boris Godunov about and how does it relate to nationalism?
Libretto is in Russian (vernacular)
Uses real Russian historical events.
About Russian Tsar, Boris Godunov
Using Russian historical events is an example of their invented national style
What are the elements in the Coronation scene that are associated with nationalism and how are they associated with nationalism?
Bells because they could be heard in Russian churches.
Melody from Russian folk song
association with nationalism: using real historical Russian events and folk songs is part of their self-identified national characteristics.
How is El Barberillo de Lavapies no 9 and 10 related to Spanish politics?
Meant to allude to political tensions in Spain at the time because it has to due with the reign of King Charles the Third
Define Zarzuela
Theatrical work w music and story lines, spoken dialogue. W 2 acts
Define the characteristics of a Seguidilla
Traditional Spanish dance
Triple meter
Major mode
Bright catchy rhythms
Vocal line has phrases ending with melisma’s
Describe the Japanese and Chinese elements of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Traditional Japanese & Chinese melodies
Evokes Japanese gagaku orchestra: harp, flute, piccolo, bells.
Whole-tone and pentatonic scales.
Parallel octaves.
Evasion of traditional voice leading
Define Developing Variations
Creating an entire composition by combining tiny motives that are used to create melodies and accompaniments.
Transposing and changing them throughout piece.
Name the Mighty Five
Balakirev
Cui
Mussorgsky
Borodin
Rimsky Korsakov
What is a Concert Overture
One movement orchestral piece normally in sonata form and has some sort of program
What is a Tone Poem
One movement orchestra works w programs, can be in any form, but usually not in a conventional sonata form.
Program should influence the form of the music.
Define Gesamtkunstwerk
Gesamt = bringing something altogether
Kunst = art, all art or visual arts
Werk = work, compositions
A work that brings all the arts together, not just beautiful singing
Describe the five parts of an Aria and the composer associated with it
Orchestral introduction
Scena
Cantabile
Tempo di mezzo
Cabaletta
Rossini
Describe the six parts of a duet and the composer associated with it
Orchestral introduction
Scene
Tempo d’attacco
Cantabile
Tempo di mezzo
Cabaletta
Verdi
