Leslie Van Houten

Opera means work in Italian and is the name given to a dramatic play set to music where the performers sing their parts accompanied or unaccompanied by music in solos called arias and two or more singers called ensembles. The sixteenth century saw the beginning of operas which started as poems sung by musicians called Camerata (“society”). In 1607 Claudio Monteverdi first used an orchestra to accompany his opera, La favola d’Orfeo, creating the modern opera we know today. (London: Octopus…

The application of color and paint in a piece creates a noticeable surface texture within the work. This surface texture can be used to enhance the general chaos or conversely the straightforwardness of a work. The use of color within the image also has an effect on the overall mood of the painting and the viewer’s perception of the subjects. In Claude Monet’s Grainstacks (Snow Effect) the heavily textured surface of the painting and visibility of the separate brush strokes creates a sense of…

For my concert critique, I went to Jason Terry’s Doctoral Piano Recital on Tuesday, December 1st at the School of Music in room 206. Because Terry was able to pick the pieces he played, he picked a range of different pieces to emphasize his wide range of talent. He included older and modern pieces including Bach, Godowsky, Balakirev, Zorn, and Liszt. The first piece he played was “Prelude & Fugue, BWV 872” composed by Bach. I was a little unsure about the nature and form of this piece because…

Robert Schumann composed orchestral music, including four symphonies and one piano concerto. He also composed chamber music, including three string quartets, one piano quintet, one piano quartet, piano trios, and sonatas. In the emotional abandonment of his music, Schumann is the true Romantic. His piano pieces are filled with impassioned melody, unique changes of harmony, and driving rhythms. His music was often had literacy, meaning and was connected by a literary theme or musical motto.…

Richard Wagner was a great composer of music that shaped history as we know it. His music was full of passion and despite his many characteristic flaws, he was able to convey great emotion and love in his music. Wagner composed 13 operas with his most famous works like Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg(The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.) He transformed the way opera was written and performed by actually doing the libretto himself. The longest opera he…

Harry potter vs. Lord Voldemort, Batman vs. Joker, or Avengers vs. Loki. Like all those movies, the same theme of good vs. Evil is involved in this play called Dracula. This play is about a Dracula which is an evil character and other character like Van Helsing, Renfield and Lucy are the good character and are trying to vanish the Dracula.Dracula is a Play adapted by Hamilton Deane in 1924 from the novel Dracula which was written by Bram Stoker in 1897 and then revised by John L. Balderston in…

Music has had a profound influence on religion, politics, foreign policy, and pop culture throughout the years. Frequently, we credit rap and hip-hop for having such a positive impact in the world of politics and social standing; however, there isn't much analysis on the influence that southern rock has had in the molding of white, southern identity. White supremacy and white privilege are among some of the most sensitive topics in America. While some are unwilling to admit they exist all…

Jerome Robbins' suggested the idea of developing a musical based off of the story of Romeo and Juliet to Leonard Bernstein in January of 1949 (originally proposed title: East Side Story, set in the less privileged areas of New York at the concurrence of Easter-Passover celebrations). In August of 1955, a gathering with Arthur Laurents took place where another idea emerged -- two teen-age mobs as the conflicting groups, one of them newly-arrived Puerto Ricans, the other self-styled…

Humans have constantly been improving what they have already got. To achieve a more perfect version, they go through a number of eras or epochs where they try out different versions. Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter in the 20th century, went through different periods where he drew in a specific colour to see how it affected the painting. He started off with the Blue Period, where he drew mostly blue colours (Pablo Picasso, 2015). This he used for a few years, until he switched to the Rose…

The beginnings of music technology and consumption originated in the late 1800s with Thomas Edison’s ingenious phonograph. Over a course of seventy-five years, the phonograph has received many upgrades and has even become a basis for the recent music technology today (Price and Albright para. 5). Some of the newer music technological advances include vinyl records, cassette tapes, CDs, portable MP3 players, and streaming services, which have all revolutionized music consumption because they have…