Rip Van Winkle

Henri Rousseau Henri Rousseau was a naïve painter who lived from 1844-1910 but primarily worked from 1884 until his death. The works of Rousseau where distinct and unlike anything else that was being created, this was most likely due to Rousseau’s lack of formal training. Rousseau managed to create imaginative and brilliant pieces based solely on his own intuition and natural skill. There reality of Rousseau’s early life is a bit foggy due to the great mythos that surrounds the artist, in large…

In the mid-1800’s to the early 1900’s two artists are responsible for the modern art movement these two artists are Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. These two artists have very distinct style of painting, however, they both helped to shape the direction of painting would go over the following century. Monet and Van Gogh painted their lives on a canvas and in their thoughts and words. Through both of the men’s paintings we can understand the struggle as artists during this time in history. The…

From the 12th century to the 21st century music has been a way of living. People around the world listen to music every day, even though music has changed drastically over the years. But why did this happen? Music has been changed in many ways and this tells the difference of classical and modern music. For example music has changed by the: adding of effects, change of message and change of purpose. Classical and modern music are both a huge part of music as a whole. Both of these genres…

Gustav Klimt’s ornate, sensual, and decadent style made him not only the most prominent of the Vienna Secessionists but one of the most beloved artists of all time. In his own time, Kilmt was well known for creating paintings, murals, and sketches. One painting that he was most notable for is called the The Kiss. In this painting, his aesthetic sensibilities are not compared with any other artists because he created art that portrayed themes that include love and feminine beauty of the body. He…

On Sunday, June 21st, I went to see the Dallas Symphony Orchestra perform “The Music of John Williams and Hollywood’s Great Composers” at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco. The concert was held in the church’s worship room at 6:30pm. This was a great place for the DSO to perform because the audience and the orchestra were very close and, in a way, felt more personal. The show included fourteen pieces: “Overture to Captain Blood by Korngold, ‘Tara’ – A Short Poem for Orchestra from Gone with…

In the first movement of his Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra Op. 31, Gerald Finzi utilizes downward bass motion, disagreeing key areas, and ambiguous cadences for the purpose of establishing a sense of wandering and despair. Much like other well-known British composers of mid-twentieth century, Gerald Finzi’s music takes advantage of dissonant and dense orchestration, as well as reflections upon political turmoil and personal ailment of the period. During World War II, Finzi became…

It is worth mentioning that most of the quotations are from large Symphonic works of composers who were living and writing concomitantly with Mahler. Berio himself in an interview assumes the emphasis placed on 20th century music, most specifically in the last one hundred years. Although the preference for modern works points towards a post-tonal harmonic structure, the majority of quotations are of a more moderate nature, such as Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy rather than the full-blown…

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…