Week 4 - Music and Politics (AGAIN)

Question 1

What is a symphony?

Answer 1

area in front of the opera stage was where the instrumentalists performed

a large piece for orchestra alone

Question 2

What happened when the symphony became popular

Answer 2

They became a entity on its own

Started to play pieces before the opera began, so they started to be called upon by themselves apart from the opera

Question 3

What are the instrument groups of the Opera

Answer 3

string, woodwind, brass and percussion

Question 4

When did the opera start getting called a symphony?

Answer 4

When they started playing on their own

Question 5

Philharmonic

Answer 5

“music-loving” and its used to differentiate between two orchestras in the same city

Question 6

How many movements do symphonies have

Answer 6

Four

Question 7

What are the four movements in a symphony

Answer 7

First movement: fast
Second – contrast with 1st movement, a bit slower to moderately fast
Third – faster, often a dance
Fourth – fast

Question 8

Mozart’s Symphony No 40

Answer 8

rhythm is simple and clear
melody is a theme (you can sing along, it’s simple and symmetrical)
texture: more homophonic

Question 9

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (1808)

Answer 9

not real melody but a motif

notice with Beethoven 5 is that it starts and stops a lot, really dramatic

dynamics (the loudness or softness of a sound) also changes a lot

Question 10

What is a motif

Answer 10

a motif is a short musical idea, like a musical fragment

Question 11

How did Beethoven use a motif in Symphony No. 5

Answer 11

1) It is presented at the opening
2) It is “nested” in the instruments, it’s organic
3) You will also hear it “strung together”

Question 12

Beethoven’s 7th Symphony

Answer 12

again, four movements in this symphony

medium fast, slower, quicker and really fast (4 movements)

this lasts about 40 minutes, whereas Mozart’s 40th takes about 30 minutes

Beethoven has different patrons and had more time to write longer pieces

he uses an additive texture: more instruments come in and it build up

Question 13

How does the music tie into the narrative of the scene?

Answer 13

1) Starts in the lower instruments and then moves into the higher register. It builds, and starts to sound more triumphant
- a register is a range of notes, we might describe it as a low, middle or higher register

2) Very strict and controlled rhythm, there’s no freedom, trying to control, just like the
king is trying to control his speech. Rhythm and speech are grinding along.

3) Additive texture: not only does it move into the higher registers (from double basses
up to violins) also builds tension and again victory
it’s so dramatic that we tend not to hear it in restaurant – it invites us to listen, it’s dramatic