OVERVIEW ASSIGNMENT

The Varieties of Musical Experience

6.2 Differentiate among varieties of musical experience

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Music comes in many Styles. Style Guide: Western Music

1. Medieval 2. Renaissance 3. Baroque 4. Classical* 5. Romantic 6. Modern 7. Contemporary (New Music) 8. Popular (pop) 9. Jazz

*Classical (art or concert) music: is also a generic term for Western music older than 1900, plus contemporary art music. Art concert music may be more demanding, and complex, but more rewarding too.

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HISTORICAL MUSICAL STYLES 1. Middle Ages 500-1300s: von Bingen. Plainsong, chant monophonic. Mostly religious. 2. Renaissance 1400s-mid-1500s. Polyphonic, more secular concertos. Monteverde.

3. Baroque era (late 1500s-1750). Vivaldi, Four Seasons. Violin concertos. 1723 J. S. Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, ca. 1700

Subject: Church hymns. Formal elements: fugue /toccata/ ornamentation 4. Classical era (1750-1800).* W.A. Mozart.

a. Theme and variation. Classical characteristics. b. Opera (voices sing melodic line with orchestra)

5. Romantic era (1800-1900). Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc.) a. Beethoven.Eroica-3rd Symphony in E-flat Major, 1804. Secular, symphony: 4 mvts, dissonance. b. Beethoven.9th Symphony, “Ode to Joy” 4th movement. Ca. 1818. orchestra +chorus. c. Schubert: Art song. Also J. Strauss: waltz. R. Strauss-Zarathustra - intervals

6. Modern era (1900-1950s) a. C. Debussy. (1890-1905) Musical impressionism b. Ravel, “Bolero,” 1928 orchestra ballet c. Stravinsky, “The Rite of Spring,” 1913. Primitivism. Dissonance. d. Scott Joplin. “Rose Leaf Rag.” Syncopation e. Jazz Improvisation.

7. Post-Modern era (1960s-present). a. Philip Glass, John Adams. Minimalism. Movie/opera scores. b. Fusion music

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“Directions.” Persian poem. by Sohrab Sepehri, adapted to music

by the fusion* music group Axiom of Choice.

“Where is the friend’s home?” Asked the rider of the dawn. The sky paused, A passerby offered the branch of light Which he held between his lips To the darkness of the dunes. Pointing to a willow tree, he said: Before you reach that tree, There is a garden lane Greener than God’s dream. And there, love is the color of blue Like the wings of truth. . . .

*Fusion: blend of Contemporary + Traditional styles. Here: fusion of M. Eastern + Western instruments supporting Niya Yesh - Iranian singer. Directions/Greener Than God’s Dream

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Middle Ages MELODY:

• Plainsong or chant: Hildegard von Bingen.

- Unison. - Monophonic.

Hildegard von Bingen- Spiritus Sanctus

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RENAISSANCE Style. Harmony.

1. Polyphony/counterpoint “Simultaneous production of

tones by voices or instruments.”

2. Consonance/Dissonance (cultural)

Renaissance: music -> increasingly secular. -- Concerts.

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Theme & Variation:

A Classical

Form

Mozart variations on a Folk Tune

Wolfgang A. Mozart

Classical qualities: Harmony Clarity Refinement Proportion, Balance

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CLASSICAL STYLE

§ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Antonio Salieri

•Clarity •Harmony •Balance •Refinement •Theme • and •Variation

Mozart vs SalieriMovie: Amadeus

Italian Baroque Style The Four Seasons (1725) by composer Antonio Vivaldi

4 violin concertos, performed in French Gothic style church: Ste Chapelle, Paris (1242-48)

Vivaldi Spring concerto #1 in E major

6.2 Differentiate among varieties of musical experience including the fugue, the symphony, and the art song.

• A Bach Fugue – Baroque-era innovation in composition – Highly ornate and challenging – Emphasized counterpoint and improvisation

• A Beethoven Symphony – Expanded the limits of symphony and orchestration – Created highly emotional musical experiences in

addition to complex ones

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German Baroque Style

Johann S. BACH (1685- 1750) (German Protestant Baroque)

1. Fugue Polyphonic counterpoint

2. Canon Counterpoints at intervals

3. Toccata Freestyle improvisation

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Catholic Baroque style Rich “ornamentation.”

Catholic Baroque Style

<- Lutheran Church: simplicity with subtle ornamentation

Bach’s main church: Thomaskirche, Leipzig.

Thomaskirche organ.

Religion and style.

Karl Richter Bach toccata & fugue

Bach T+F visualization

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1746. Bach, at first considered simply a church organist, eventually revolutionized

the art of music. Listen to the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. What does it make you feel?

Figure 6.4

A romanticized image of Ludwig von Beethoven painted by Carl Jäger (1833–1887) in 1870, well after Beethoven’s death.

Beethoven’s symphonies may be the best-known and most popular works of classical music in the Western world. Listen to the first movement of his Third

Symphony, or “Ode to Joy,” the fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony. What might account for the vast popularity of Beethoven’s music?

Figure 6.5

A portrait of the Emperor Napoleon by French artist Jacques-Louis David, 1812.

Beethoven dedicates his Eroica symphony to Napoleon and heroism.

To what extent is music alone successful in generating specific emotional experiences?

Beethoven and Napoleon

Napoleon was Beethoven’s Inspiration for Symphony #3 (Eroica)

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STYLE: ROMANTICISM 19th century (1800s)

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES

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Excerpt of score for #9. Finale “Ode to Joy” with chorus.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1820)

Beethoven 9TH- Ode to JoyEroica + commentary

The Varieties of Musical Experience

1. Art Songs – The designation for shorter pieces of music offered the

same compositional intensity as longer symphonies – Schubert’s “Ava Maria” is one of the most well-known

2. The Musical Avant-Garde – Seeks to be at the forefront of musical development – Deliberately defies and rejects older conventions of music – Igor Stravinksy’s 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring sparked riots.

(Michael Tilson Thomas and musicians play and comment on the piece).

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ART SONG = LIED

Franz Schubert. Austrian. (1797-1828). The Lied is a Romantic musical form. Sometimes it expresses: Art for the art’s own sake (related in some ways to visual abstraction).

Schubert used poetry and music for his Lieder or Art Songs. He also used voices and sounds to create “Program music”: music that is intended to evoke images or convey the impression of events. Sometimes written programs would be offered to audiences, suggesting imaginative correlations to the music.

19 Cover art for Schubert album.

Franz Schubert, The Trout (Forelle)

Schubert Die Forelle with translation

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From Smetana’s program notes:

The composition depicts the course of the river , beginning from its two small sources, one cold, the other warm, the joining of both streams into one,

then the flow of the Moldau through forests and across meadows, through the countryside where merry feasts are celebrated; water nymphs dance in the moonlight;

… [past] outlines of ruined castles, the Moldau swirls … and flows in a broad stream towards Prague. . .and finally the river disappears in the distance as it flows majestically into the Elbe.

PROGRAM MUSIC

Listen to an example by another composer: who created program music in symphonic form Bedrich Smetana (Czech, 1824-1884).

21 Compare Debussy’s music to paintings by Claude Monet. “Water lilies.”

MODERN music includes: “Musical Impressionism”

sought to capture: “moments of experience,” refined.

Listening Example: Claire de Lune”

[Moonlight]

Claire de Lune-animated

CLAUDE DEBUSSY, composer (1862-1918)

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Picasso. Les Demoiselles D’ Avignon. 1907.

Igor Stravinsky:

Rite of Spring, 1913.

1. Dissonant 2. Unfamiliar Instrumentation 3. Extreme Dynamics 4. Anti-classical!

“savage” bold

The Avant Garde: Experimentalists A version of Avant Garde: “(Neo)Primitivism,” as a style.

(contrast to Neo-Classical Revival)

Fantasia version: Extinction

SF Michael Tilson Thomas on Stravinsky

Satyagraha, an opera inspired by Gandhi’s early work in S. Africa. By American composer Philip Glass (1979. Restaged in 2008).

Figure 6.3 Satyagraha