Music Then And Now Exam 2 Terms Abcdef

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arpeggio

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“harp” Chord that is strummed or played one note after another, from bottom to top or vice versa.

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cadenza

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Elaborate solo passage that usually comes just before the end of a concerto movement, generally as an expansion of the final cadence.

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character piece

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Brief, evocative composition, often for piano solo and intended for private entertainment; the mood or theme is often indicated by a fanciful title. Common in the nineteenth century.

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commedia dell’arte

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Improvised theater of Italian fairgrounds, prevalent from the Renaissance onward; staple characters such as Pierrot and Columbine appear in literature and theater.

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Gesamtkunstwerk

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Richard Wagner’s name for the ideal of a combination of music, drama, and stagecraft. Also total work of art.

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libretto

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“little book” Text of an opera.

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melisma

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Florid melody sung on a single syllable.

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miniatures

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Small, intimate solo or chamber work, suitable for performance in a salon, common in the nineteenth century.

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orchestration

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Art of assigning melodies, counterpoint, accompaniment, and so on, to the various instruments of the orchestra.

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prima donna

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“first lady” Leading woman of an opera company.

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song cycle

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In the nineteenth century, a single, integrated work, often for voice and piano or solo piano, made up of a collection of smaller pieces.

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strophic

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Form of song that uses the same music for each verse (strophe) of poetry.

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through-composed

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Formal procedure in which there is no repetition of earlier music.

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variation form

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Musical form in which a melody, harmonic structure, or other musical thematic material is presented, followed by a series of variants.

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vibrato

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Expressive pulsation of tone produced by changing a pitch slightly and rapidly, using variation in breath or finger placement.

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Bayreuth

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Wagner chose Bayreuth, in northern Bavaria, for the site of his Festival Theater, built with support from numerous sources, including international Wagner Societies and Ludwig II.

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chromaticism

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Style of inflecting music with harmonies created using chromatic notes.
Expanded Harmonic vocabulary.

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Clara Schumann

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Clara Schumann was an advocate of her husband Robert’s music. Child prodigy who studied with her father, Friedrich Wieck, and made her official debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus at the age of eleven. Her Father disapproved of her marrying Robert Schumann, they got married anyways and maintained a two career household. After Robert’s death in 1856, Clara dedicated herself to Robert’s legacy, performing and editing a complete edition of his music.

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leitmotif

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“leading motive” Recurring musical motive used to represent a person, thing, or idea, particularly in the operas of Richard Wagner.
These are associated with objects, characters, emotions, and places.

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Ludwig van Beethoven

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Born in Bonn to a musical family. Music is a bridge between Classical and romantic styles. His only opera is Fidelio. Expanded the scope of the development and the coda compared to his predecessors. He earned extra income when he began publishing his compositions. Haydn praised Beethoven’s work and urged that he be sent to Vienna. He studied with Haydn and took lessons with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Beethoven taught wealthy people. After becoming deaf, he thought about suicide but decided to stay alive for art. His compositions seem to reflect the struggle of his life. Beethoven also suffered from family problems, ill health, and fear of poverty. Vienna’s postwar depression made it difficult to produce large-scale works. He was one of the first composers to make a living as an independent professional without a regular church or court position. Famous as a virtuoso pianist, composer of solo, sonatas, and concertos for piano and orchestra. He kept notebooks with him in which he wrote down his musical ideas. He often moved and changed apartments in Vienna. Beethoven supported Napoleon Bonaparte until Napoleon declared himself emperor of France in 1804; this event prompted Beethoven to strike out “Bonaparte” on the title page of his Third Symphony (“Eroica”). His life story defines the Romantic view of the outcast artist.

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minuet and trio

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Commonly, in the eighteenth century, a movement of a symphony, string quartet, or other work; the “trio” is a contrasting minuet, after which the first minuet returns.
Form is AABB(Minuet) CCDD(Trio) AB(Minuet).
A genre, not a musical form. Elegant musical style, stately tempo, constant triple meter. Louis XIV. Ternary structure A B A. Principle of presentation, contrast, and return.

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nationalism

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Promotion of common identity based on political state, language, or commonly held culture; in music, a trend (particularly in the nineteenth century) in which composers seek to express the identity of a place, a people, or a country.
The desire to unify political states according to conceptions of shared culture and language. Nationalism in music: local and folk elements in music of Moravia, Bohemia, Finland, Denmark, and Russia (Romantic Period).

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Richard Wagner

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Wagner considered the Ring to be a drama, not an “opera”. Wagner brought more attention to unifying the details of the work. Wagner’s works are based on the idea that human passions are best rendered through music. Three styles of Wagnerian musical discourse: Narrative (Conversational) style, Lyrical Style, and Symphonic Style. He was a controversial and polarizing figure, a talented and ambitious composer who worked to develop a purely German style of opera in an age of nationalism. Exiled to Switzerland in 1849 for political activity; produced essays and pamphlets on music and opera, wrote the libretto for the Ring of the Nibelung. Returned to Germany in 1860; gained the support of Ludwig II, king of Bavaria. Built the Festival Theater in Bayreuth for the performance of the Ring Cycle. His second wife Cosima (daughter of Franz Liszt) was a powerful figure at Bayreuth until her death in 1930. Anti-Semitic writings against Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer; later, Wagner was a hero to the Nazis.

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Robert Schumann

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By 1832 he abandoned plans for a concert career after injuring his right hand. Founded the Neue Zeitschri1 für Musik in 1834 and produced influential music criticism over the next decade. Divided his contemporaries into three groups: classicists, middle-of-the-road conservatives (“Philistines”), and romantics (including Chopin, Mendelssohn, and himself); also introduced readers to Berlioz and Brahms. Met Mendelssohn and Chopin in 1835; their piano miniatures were models for his own work, and Chopin’s style served as a model for combining virtuosity and poetic intimacy. Prone to depressive episodes; after attempting suicide by jumping into the Rhine River in 1854, was confined to an asylum until his death. Composed works in concentrated periods of productivity, including songs (1840), symphonies (1841), chamber music (1842–43). Imaginary world League of David. Made up artistic characters Florestan and Eusebius. These characters depicted in Carnaval

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Romanticism

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Romantic art centered on the subjective inner life of the mind and heart, emphasizing such traits as the emotional, visionary, sublime, and spontaneous. Romanticism represented an experimentation with norms established for art; the “natural” was preferred to the “artificial”. The preference for untamed English gardens over carefully manicured gardens (in the French style) symbolizes the Romantic preference for the natural. Slavery abolished; imperialism and colonialism spread. Impressionist painting portrayed the visual impressions of a moment. Continuity of musical forms (operas, orchestral music, chamber music, songs) from the Classical period contrasts with strong differences in musical style. Romantic music is concerned with the expression of subjectivity: music as expression and feeling.

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rondo form

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Musical form characterized by returns of a fully stated theme.
Principal theme usually light-hearted and appealing. Alternates with contrasting material. Final movements are often in rondo form.
Related to ritornello form of concerto with the regular repetition of a musical idea. Light, fast, and often celebratory or happy. Often found in the finale to a multi-movement work. Forms ABACA, ABACABA, or ABACADA.

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scherzo

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“joke” Term applied variously to different types of musical compositions, but most often to a lively dancelike movement of a symphony or other instrumental work.
Same structure as a minuet but faster and more lively.

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Valhalla

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“Castle in the sky” , Where the “gods” live, and where a good warriors soul is brought to.

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Schumann’s Carnaval

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Carnaval is a series of piano pieces (character pieces) linked together through literary theme and musical material. Character pieces were short and often lyrical piano pieces intended for both private and public performance; composed by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, and others. Individual pieces in Carnaval are associated with Schumann’s acquaintances, composers he admired, and figures from Carnival; the set imagines all characters are present at a masked ball. Real-life figures include Clara, Ernestine, Chopin, and Paganini. All characters may be viewed as Schumann himself in multiple disguises. Dreamy character Eusebius. Meandering melody. Final chord inconclusive. Florestan active extroverted character. A-Eb-C-B. Inconclusive. Contains quotations of his other music and from other composers. Pianistic virtuosity.

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Wagner’s The Valkyrie

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The Valkyrie centers on the love of Sieglinde and Siegmund, siblings who conceive Siegfried before Siegmund is killed in a duel with Hunding, Sieglinde’s husband. Wagner specified that the orchestra should support the singers without overpowering them.

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1st-mvt sonata form

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Form most often used in first movements of symphonies, sonatas, and other instrumental works of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, consisting primarily of exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda.
Dramatic presentation with flexibility, present a memorable sing-able theme, move elsewhere, present a second, contrasting theme, develop themes by creating tension and unsettled mood, return to recognizable themes. Situation-tension-crisis-resolution

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art song

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Vocal work for solo voice and accompaniment.
Rise of the art song led increasing middle class demand for domestic music.

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bel canto

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“beautiful song” Italian style of singing, associated with early nineteenth-century opera, characterized by a lyrical and highly ornamented style.
Bondini Opera Company specialized in it.

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chamber music

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Music performed by a small number of people; originally intended for a small audience.
Played by a small ensemble for a small audience. Representative genres and ensembles include songs, string quartets, and music for solo instrument with piano. Enjoyed by the amateur players as well as the audience. Intimate quality with great detail in the musical writing designed for a privileged audience.

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coda

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“tail” Ending section of a first-movement sonata or other movement.
May follow the recapitulation.

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development

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Process of exploring and reworking different musical materials; in first-movement sonata forms, the main middle section, in which melodies and motives from the first section (exposition) are fragmented, recombined, and used in combination with modulation.
Motives or themes from the exposition are presented in new aspects or combinations, themes can be in any order, modulations may be made to relatively remote keys harmonies

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Enlightenment

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Music of the Classic period can be called Enlightenment music. The Age of Enlightenment, science and philosophy. Dissemination of ideas through books and newspapers, coffeehouses, lending libraries, the Encylopedie. Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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exposition

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In a fugue, the opening section, in which each voice states the subject; in first-movement sonata form, the opening section, in which the main themes are presented, starting in the home key but then establishing the dominant or another new key area. Also statement.
Incorporate a first theme or group of themes in the tonic, a second theme, often more lyrical, in the dominant, closing, often cadential, theme also in the dominant or relative major, different themes being connected by appropriate transitions or bridge passages.

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F. Liszt

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(1811-1886) Pianist in audience at Fantastic Symphony. Virtuoso. Virtuoso is epitomized by Franz Liszt (piano) and Niccolò Paganini (violin). First solo recital in Paris on March 27, 1841

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F. Mendelssohn

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1809-1847. Born in Hamburg. German-Jewish family. Converted to Christianity. Child prodigy. Pianist and composer. Studied with Zelter at Singakademie in Berlin. Painting, literature, languages, and philosophy. Died same year as his sister Franny. Mendelssohn believed that songs didn’t have to have words and that the song had more meaning without words than with them. Sometimes viewed as Romantic Mozart.

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F. Schubert

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1797-1828. Born and lived in Vienna. Played piano and violin, choirboy in St. Stephen’s Cathedral at 11. Studied compositions with Antonio Salieri. Graduated from Imperial and Royal City College. Contracted syphilis. Known for lyrical style and rich harmonies. Opposite of Beethoven. Had circle of friends. Poems from Goethe.

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Hector Berlioz

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1803-1869. Came to Paris in the early 1820s as a medical student but was determined to become a musician, despite his father’s opposition. Music is experiment, avant-garde quality. Conductor and music critic. Strongly influenced by literature and Shakespeare’s plays. Man slut screwed Camille Moke, then had an unhappy marriage to Harriet Smithson.

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idee fixe

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“fixed idea” Recurrent melody, used obsessively in different forms throughout the piece, in Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony.
Four phases: first two are question-answer pairs, third is sequential and yearning, fourth is disjunct motion and ends in conjunct motion. Used mostly in his first movement.

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Lied-Lieder

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“song” Short musical compostion, generally for solo voice and piano, often based on a poem.
German art song. Schubert’s emerged from popular culture rather than opera.

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modified strophic

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Strophic song form that incorporates some alteration in the strophic repetition.
Music is repeated for each strophe of the poem, except fro such variations as the composer chooses to make. The poem is made of several strophes; each strophe has the same shape but different words. Die Forelle (The Trout) is in this form. It tells a story about a trout and a fisherman but with an underlying symbolic meaning of seduction and betrayal

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N. Paganini

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Virtuoso violinist, real good, mhm. 24 Caprices for solo violin.

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opera seria

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Type of Italian opera of the eighteenth century with a serious (often historical or mythological) subject matter, generally in three acts.
(serious or tragic opera) was based on mythical or historical subjects, with elevated action and characters who are gods or members of the nobility

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pianoforte-piano

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“soft-loud” Keyboard instrument in which strings are struck with padded wooden hammers that are activated when a player depresses the keys.
Became a central part of the home. Innovations in design allowed new effects and an expanded range. Inexpensive pianos found their way to many homes. Women played. Composers gave lessons to wealthy women. Clara Wieck. Used for social purposes. Duets a favorite pastime at one piano.

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program music

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Instrumental music that is intended to describe a scene or tell a story.
Often contrasted by critic and historians with absolute music, yet the boundaries are not rigidly fixed.

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recapitulation

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Third main section of first-movement sonata form, paralleling the exposition, but ending in the home key.
First theme, transition, second theme or group (in original key), closing in original key. Material from the exposition is restated in the original order but all themes in the tonic, transition theme often substantially modified.

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recitative

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Passage in opera and oratorio in which solo singers deliver text at a speed and in a rhythm that is tended to follow normal speech, accompanied by chords, most often short punctuating chords played by harpsichord, organ, or piano.
Accompanied by the harpsichord or piano and advances the plot through dialogue. Scenes with orchestrally accompanied recitative are passionate and musically interesting.

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Schubertiade

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Intimate social gathering, named for Franz Schubert, and featuring the composer and his friends providing music and poetry.
Centered on Schubert’s music, informal social event-small scale, private, intimate musical experience. Held at the home of one of Schubert’s wealthy friends. Included piano music, songs, drinking, eating, games, and dancing.

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symphony

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Piece for orchestra, usually in four movements, especially important in the Classic period.
Emerged from the multi-movement opera overture and the one-movement sinfonia. Common genre in 18th and 19th centuries. Composition for orchestra. Principal form of large-scale orchestral music during the Classic period.

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the musical motto A-S-C-H

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Chopin style flowing arpeggio accompaniment to lyrical melody. agitato. Schumann.

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virtuoso

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Instrumentalist or singer whose performance is distinguished by a display of technical proficiency.
Dazzling feats of difficulty. Cult of virtuoso arose.

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W. A. Mozart

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Born in Salzburg in 1756; trained by his father, Leopold Mozart, a violinist. Earliest known composition 1761 (5 years old). Toured Europe with father and sister, Nannerl, in 1762, becoming internationally famous as a child prodigy. Plays for Louis XV, Visits London, Visits Rome. Employed as a court musicians in Salzburg until 1781. Moved to Vienna.

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Mozart’s Don Giovanni

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Offers subversive social commentary within an authoritarian society. Collaborated with poet Lorenzo Da Ponte. Combines comedy and serious drama. Premiered in Prague, Bohemia in 1787 at Count Nostitz’s Theater by Bondini Opera Company. Mozart conducted from the piano.

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Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

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Beethoven added a piccolo, contrabassoon, and three trombones to the orchestra. Used symphonic form, movements with different tempos. Layout: I first-movement sonata form, II slow movement modified variation form, III scherzo and trio, IV finale sonata form. Premiered in Vienna, Austria at Theatre an der Wien. C minor to C major. Symbolizes a struggle for victory. First movement dominated by a famous four note motive which is heard through all four movements. Important because it is frequently performed and there is a four note motive associated with fate and the idea of victory during WWII.

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Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony

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Premiered in 1830 in Paris at Paris Conservatory conducted by Habeneck and now a part of the standard performing repertory. An example of program music; the symphony tells a story. Narrative is characteristically Romantic in centering on a creative artist, interiority, the supernatural and romantic love. Considered avant-garde at the time and today remains shockingly modern,, particularly in its treatment of sound. Instruments Ophicleide and Serpent. 5 movements.

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the songs and quintet of Schubert (in Ch. 9)

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Published widely in 1820s. First work Der Erlkonig published as Opus 1. Der Erlkonig performed by Johann Michael Vogl 1821 for Society of Noblewomen for Promotion of the Good and the Useful; was well received. Gretchen am Spinnrade composed 1814 as Opus 2. Performed Schubertiade at Josef von Spaun’s in Nov 1826. More like folk songs than arias. Personal, contemplative, and inwardlooking, suggesting the gradual transformation of music into Romanticism. Used strophic, modified strophic, and through-composed. Inventive, memorable melodies, piano treated as an equal partner, piano figuration imitates, interprets, and comments on the poetic text. Expressive use of harmony-shift from major to minor and surprising modulations.

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Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto

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Combining lyrical, symphonic, and virtuosic elements. 3 movements played without breaks. Begins with solo violin. Cadenza placed at the end of development STRANGE. Blurred lines.