Msc 3044 Listening Exam 2

Front 1

Erlkönig

Back 1

By Franz Schubert. It is based on a poem by Goethe. This is a lied which is a german art song. Timbre is voice and piano. The texture is homophonic.

Front 2

Ganymed

Back 2

by Franz Schubert. Timbre is voice and piano. Based on a poem by Goethe. Used Sturm und Drang which is works with agitated, impassioned writing to evoke emotion. Scena is the word used to describe a song of this operatic type.

Front 3

Nähe des Geliebten

Back 3

By Franz Schubert. Based on a poem by Goethe. This is a lied or a german art song. Timbre is voice and piano. Texture is homophonic. Form is strophic meaning the music repeats with different text each time.

Front 4

Symphonie Fantastique, movement 4

Back 4

By Berlioz. This piece is a programmatic symphony which is a multi-movement symphonic work that paints a picture or tells a story. It features a recurring melody or idée fixe. The recurrence of a theme in several movements of a multimovement work is called cyclicism. The orchestra has grown to about 90 players.

Front 5

Absence from Les nuits d'été

Back 5

By Hector Berlioz. Les nuits d'été are a song collection, they are a group of songs that do not share musical or poetic ideas. French songs of complex form and great artistry are mélodies, such as the songs from Les nuits d'été. Form is Rondo: A B A B' A. Timbre is originally voice and piano, but the orchestral accompaniment is well known.

Front 6

Nocturne in Db Major

Back 6

By Chopin. A nocturne is a character piece for piano with dreamy mood, lyrical melody in right hand, widely spaced, arpeggiated chords in left hand. It uses rubato which is not using strict tempo, speeding up or slowing down tempo. The piece is rhythmically alive and full of ornaments that may have been inspired by operatic singing. The piece has no form, but an improvisatory alternation of two melodic ideas.

Front 7

Piano Trio in D Minor

Back 7

By Felix Mendelssohn. Like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven in style in that each movement is allegro/andante/scherzo/allegro and each uses a traditional form. It is also slighty newer in style because of the piano part's virtuosity, similar to Chopin and Liszt. The two themes are like two opposing ideas, one that is stable and lyrical the other that is agitated and eruptive. Timbre is piano, violin and cello.

Front 8

Symphony No. 1 in Bb Major

Back 8

By Robert Schumann, AKA The Spring. The triangle brings in a festive sound and the flute sounds like a bird. There are four movements: intro, slow, scherzo, fast. The movements are played without a pause. Schumann's slow 2nd movement is larghetto, slower than the usual andante.

Front 9

Symphony No. 1 in Bb Major

Back 9

By Robert Schumann, AKA The Spring. The triangle brings in a festive sound and the flute sounds like a bird. There are four movements: intro, slow, scherzo, fast. The movements are played without a pause. This is Schumann's slow 2nd movement is larghetto, slower than the usual andante.

Front 10

Symphony No. 1 in Bb Major

Back 10

By Robert Schumann, AKA The Spring. The triangle brings in a festive sound and the flute sounds like a bird. There are four movements. The movements are played without a pause. This is Schumann's slow 2nd movement marked larghetto, slower than the usual andante.

Front 11

Liebst du um Schönheit

Back 11

By Clara Schumann. This song was published in a collection of songs to texts by Friedrich Rückert. The texts of Rückert were also used by Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler and Robert Schumann. The form is strophic, although there are subtle changes in each stanza. Timbre is piano and voice.

Front 12

Act 2, Wolf's Glen Scene, concluding section

Back 12

From Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber. This is the finale, the most striking and most popular part of the work. Libretto by Friedrich Kind. Weber called it romantic opera for its text's mysterious or supernatural elements. Weber uses melodrama, in which the voices speak in alternation with or are accompanied by orchestral music.

Front 13

Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla

Back 13

From Das Rhinegold by Richard Wager. This is an opera or a dramatic work set to music using lavish sets and costumes. This opera comes from a set of 4 operas called The Ring of the Nibelung. This opera uses Wagner Tubas which are new mid-range brass instruments. Wagner also uses leitmotives which is a motive that symbolizes a character or dramatic entity.

Front 14

Act 1, No 1 from The Barber of Seville

Back 14

by Rossini. Rossini dropped simple recitative which is recitative that is accompanied by a keyboard instrument, cello or bass. Rossini signed a contract with an impresario or manager of a theater in Rome, to help him produce his opera. This is an introduction or a long, multi-sectional work made from a succession of contrasting passages that mix choral, ensemble and solo singing. The form is ternary (ABA).

Front 15

Ecco ridente from The Barber of Seville

Back 15

by Rossini. Rossini dropped simple recitative which is recitative that is accompanied by a keyboard instrument, cello or bass. Rossini signed a contract with an impressario or manager of a theater in Rome, to help him produce his opera. This is an introduction or a long, multi-sectional work made from a succession of contrasting passages that mix choral, ensemble and solo singing. This section is an aria-like love song.

Front 16

Otello

Back 16

By Giuseppe Verdi. Based on Shakespeare's Othello. The opera features brisindi which is a drinking song which is common in 19th century opera. It also features preghiera or a prayer scene which is common in 19th century opera. The work consists of scenes or passages that call a particular selection of characters to the stage.

Front 17

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15

Back 17

AKA Rákóczy March by Franz Liszt. A rhapsody is a character piece for piano without a form or mood. Liszt was inspired by Gypsy bands that featured a violin and a cimbalom which is a hungarian dulcimer. Liszt was inspired by the Gypsy scale which is a minor scale with raised 4th and 7th degrees. This piece is in duple meter, opens with several themes repeated symmetrically, leads to a contrasting trio section and end with a reprise of the opening music.

Front 18

Symphony No. 3

Back 18

By Johannes Brahms. It has 4 movements of moderate length. It shows an attachment to Beethoven in its repeat of the exposition and long coda. This first movement features a three-key exposition or a tonal plan in a sonata-form exposition having 3 keys. The work is unified by a small recurring motive that comes before the main theme.

Front 19

Feldeinsamkeit

Back 19

By Johannes Brahms. Timbre is voice and piano. This song is set to a poem by Hermann Allmers. Form is varied strophic, different text and same music for each stanza but a little different each time. The song uses advanced harmonic language, filled with chromantic motions.

Front 20

Christus Factus Est

Back 20

By Anton Bruckner. This piece is a motet which is a setting for an unaccompanied chorus of a sacred Latin text. This piece was influenced by Cecilianism, a movement in the Catholic Church in German lands calling for greater uniformity in church music based on music of Palestrina. The music has simple rhythms and light counterpoint. This work is sung on the Thursday before Easter to celebrate the Eucharist or the Last Supper.

Front 21

Within Four Walls

Back 21

From Sunless by Modest Mussorgsky. Sunless is a song cycle which is a group of songs meant to be performed together, which share musical and textual connections. The timbre is voice and piano. The song does not have a tune, only an artful imitation of the text as it would be spoken. Mussorgsky does not use normal harmonic progressions or traditional voice leading.

Front 22

The Nutcracker: Act 1, scene 8

Back 22

By Tchaikovsky. This is a ballet or a theatrical presentation of a story or idea through music, mime and dancing. Mime is when leading dancers communicate using hand movements, poses and facial expression. The Nutcracker was a collaboration between Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa, the leading figure in Russian ballet. In modern performances of Act 1, scene 8 the scene envisioned by Petipa is replaced by a pas de deux for Clara and the Prince cast as adults with a suggestion of romantic interest.

Front 23

Um Mitternacht

Back 23

By Gustav Mahler. The form is through composed. Timbre is voice accompanied by an orchestra. The orchestra includes oboe d'amore which is an alto oboe. Before the fifth stanza, Mahler avoids the dominant chord and at the fifth stanza the mode changes to major and the harmonic progression becomes clear in the key.

Front 24

Symphony No. 5,

Back 24

4th mvmt, Adagietto by Gustav Mahler. The principal melody is in ternary form (ABA). The melody is passed between the violins and the cellos. The drawn out phrases make regular beat and meter and seem unapparent. On the downbeat of almost every measure, the last melodic tone is

Front 25

Symphony No. 5,

Back 25

4th mvmt, Adagietto by Gustav Mahler. The principal melody is in ternary form (ABA). The melody is passed between the violins and the cellos. The drawn out phrases make regular beat and meter seem unapparent. On the downbeat of almost every measure, the last melodic tone is suspended over the bar as if the melody is in no rush to move on.

Front 26

Die stille Stadt

Back 26

By Alma Schindler. She is the wife of Gustav Mahler. Gustav Mahler encouraged his wife to publish some of her songs after they had both revised them. This is a song for voice and piano. Believed to be written during the time that she studied with Alexander Zemlinsky.

Front 27

Enigma Variations

Back 27

Theme and 9th variation (Nimrod) by Edward Elgar. Nimrod is the name of the mighty hunter from the book of Genesis. Form is theme and variations meaning a theme that is presented several times and either the theme itself or its surroundings are altered each time. The Nimrod variation preserved the ternary form of the theme, and paraphrases the opening melodic shapes and distinctive downward leaps. Timbre is full orchestra.

Front 28

Dovunque al mondo

Back 28

from Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. Madama Butterfly is an opera which is telling a story through music and drama with lavish sets and costumes. Dovunque al mondo is an aria which is an elaborate, expanisive song for solo voice set to a short poem. Timbre is voice and orchestra accompaniment. This aria is framed by quotations of the American national anthem.