21M011 (spring, 2006)

Ellen T. Harris
Lecture I

Introduction (with in-class examples)

Music exists in time and is notated on a vertical and horizontal axis. The vertical axis
represents sounds heard simultaneously. The horizontal axis consists of the unfolding of
music over time, as a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic progression. The vertical and
horizontal can be easily grasped in terms of a simple round, like “Row, row, row your
boat.” If everyone sings the tune together, the resultant melody represents a horizontal
line. If sung as a four-part round, a distinct vertical element is created by the
simultaneities as the different voices enter in delayed sequence. This can be graphed as
follows. The tune itself has four parts:
A Row, row, row your boat,
B Gently down the stream.
C Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
D Life is but a dream.
As a melody, this reads: ABCD. Once the melody is sung as a round, the vertical
element begins to appear:
ABCDABCDA…
A B C D A B C D A…

A B C D A B C D A…

A B C D A B C D A…

Note that once all the voices enter, the vertical column becomes: A
B
C
D,
which repeats over and over again. This sound can be duplicated by having each of the
four sections sing only one phrase over and over again, such as AAAA, or BBBB. The
sound columns remain the same. The reason a round works is that each of the phrases
“works” with the others over a repeating harmonic pattern. In “Row, row, row your
boat,” the pattern essentially consists of the repetition of a single chord (with an upbeat
leading into it to provide rhythmic and harmonic impetus). That is, each phrase (giving
an Arabic number to each chord) is simply: 1 1 . Or, possibly 1 (2)-1 (2)- .

A longer pattern exists in the familiar “Heart and Soul,” based on four chords. This four-
chord pattern is frequently used: its four “vertical columns” also support such familiar
songs as “Blue Moon” and “Santa Catalina” (“Twenty-six miles across the sea”)
originally sung by the Four Preps in 1958. What does this shared bass mean? First, it
means that all these songs can be sung together (which is a lot of fun).

Heart and soul, I fell in love with you. Heart and soul, …
Twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina
Blue moon I saw you standing alone, …
1 2 3 4 1 2

Secondly, like “Row, row, row your boat,” it means that any of these songs can be sung
as a round over the repeating four chords—or, if you have enough people, all of the
songs can be sung as rounds together.

Notated music has five components that determine what is played: texture (how the
various parts intertwine); harmony (the vertical axis and its progression over time);
rhythm (duration and organization into strong and weak beat patterns); melody (the
horizontal tune or tunes); and form (large-scale organization in terms of repeated, varied
or contrasting units). These are all important things to notice about any piece of music.
In addition composers can add notations about how the notated music should be
performed: dynamics (volume), tempo (speed), timbre (by what instruments or voices),
articulation (for example, legato [smooth connections between notes] or staccato [short,
individual attacks] ). These are all things we will consider as we consider the history of
Western classical music.

Middle Ages

•fall of the Roman Empire (476) to 1400

•Robin Hood, King Arthur; St. Augustine, Charlemagne, St. Francis of Assisi, St.
Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Petrarch, Boccacio, Chaucer
•a period of massive migration and privation due to repeated invasions, famine and
plagues
•education and technology of ancient Roman and Greek civilizations were lost in the
West (just as previously the advances of Egyptian and Babylonian cultures were lost)
•this period called the "dark ages"

Music (sacred and secular)

Chant (or, plainchant) is the starting point for the history of Western music because it is
the first music to be notated, collected, and preserved. Its liturgical function within the
Catholic church is, of course, responsible for its codification. However, chant was not
newly discovered by the Catholic church, but was and remains a function of many, if not
most, religious liturgies, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. The Catholic chant of the
Middle Ages derives from earlier Byzantine and Jewish chant through an oral, not written
tradition. Development of musical notation occurs in about the 9th c.

1) Preface: “Vere dignum”: introduction to the mass (the liturgical service of the
Catholic Church (Kerman/Tomlinson disk 1, track 1: henceforth K 1.1)

•reciting tone
•formulaic: ascending to the reciting tone, declaiming the text, descending at end of
phrase
•repetition of this formula

2) Antiphon: In paradisum: chant for the burial service , requiem (mass for the dead)
(K 1.2)

 rhythm: no regular pulse

form: no repetitive structure
texture: monophony
timbre: men's voices
melody: free-floating, with line rising upward on "paradisum" and extended
over many syllables (a melisma) on "aeternum" (eternal), a kind of "word-painting"
music is meant here to lift the listener away from the everyday world, away from
the physical, to the meditative and spiritual

*Please note that Kerman/Tomlinson mistakes the Biblical reference to Lazarus in this

text, associating it with the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus (John 11: 1-54).

Rather the text alludes to the parable of Lazarus the beggar who is raised to heaven in the

bosom of Abraham (Luke 16: 9-31).

Thanks to Martin M. Marks (Music Faculty) for making this correction.

qualities:

•monophonic (all male)

•non-tonal (modal)
•non-metrical (free rhythmically)
•conjunct; small range
•text-setting: largely syllabic (one note for each syllable)
•through composed (without formal repetition)

•context: processional--repeated as many times as necessary during transport of the body

from the church to the burial ground

3) Hildegard von Bingen

"For Hildegard, music was an avenue of access to mystical experience. She composed
music as a way to make palpable God and divine beauty" (Karin Pendle, Women and
Music [Indiana University Press, 1991])

Although the church forbade the singing of women in church or in public, cloistered
women were encouraged to create and perform their own music. Through the
seventeenth century, the religious calling (or profession) offered women a creative outlet
that was not possible anywhere else in society.

Hildegard thought of the human soul as "symphonic," which expressed itself by tuning
itself to the celestial music of the spheres not only by responding to musical vibrations
but by creating harmony with the human body with singing.

Sequence: Columba aspexit (K 1.3)

form AA' BB' CC' . . .

(beginning of congregational singing, responsorial, "call and response": soloist sings the
first text phrase and the congregation—here a congregation of nuns—responds with the
next text phrase (which is written to be parallel in length and rhythm) using the same
music; for each set of paired phrases this pattern repeats using different music)
texture: monophonic with drone accompaniment

harmony: modal

rhythm: free

melody: mostly conjunct, wide range (especially upper range)

context: cloister

expression: regulated (in form) and ecstatic (in melody)

performance: all female

Whereas sacred music was meant to create an out-of-body, transcendental religious

experience, either through meditation (repetitive chanting) or ecstasy (soaring melodies),
secular music and composition emphasized earthly and bodily needs and desires. This
music uses rhythm to make the body respond and clarifies its formal structure with
clearly audible forms.

Secular: Troubadours, trouveres, minnesingers (wandering minstrels)

songs: strophic; each strophe=aab

jazzy accompaniment: and “activated” pitch drone using a repeated rhythmic pattern

4) Bernart de Ventadorn, "La dousa votz"-- late 12th c. (K 1.4)

rhythm strong pulse
form AAB, strophic
timbre: monophony accompanied on stringed instrument (the oud, or early
lute/guitar)

Polyphony

organum developed out of chant as a kind of vertical embellishment or elaboration

chronological development is from simple to more and more elaborate, although a good
deal of overlapping between categories can also be assumed

parallel organum: accompanying voice moves along with the chant note for note in
parallel motion

melismatic organum: many notes in the upper, newly composed voices to one of the
original chant

5. Perotin: melismatic organum: "Alleluia: Diffusa est gratia" (1200) (K 1.5)

texture: polyphonic; non-imitative counterpoint (3 voices)

harmony: modal

rhythm: free on bottom; measured and elaborate on top

melody: undulating and entwining; very melismatic

form: organized by texture (and melody): chant—organum—chant
The monophonic chant consists of an “alleluia,” which is itself melismatic
(compare to the more syllabic “In paradisum.” The last syllable of the “alleluia”
is typically extended into a huge melisma called a “jubilus” (think “jubilation” or
“jubilee”). The biblical verse (“Diffusa est gratia”) is then set as polyphonic
organum, but its last two words (“in aeternum”/ in eternity) are sung to the
monophonic jubilus. The monophonic “alleluia” then repeats.
Function: AlleluiaÆjubilus biblical verseÆjubilus AlleluiaÆjubilus

Texture: chant organum----Æchant chant

context: liturgical
performance: all male, all vocal
**expression: lowest voice (chant) = cantus firmus: a religious foundation supporting the
earthly intertwining of the upper voices, symbolic of the church as--

"a mighty fortress,"

"how firm a foundation,"

"on this rock will I build my church"

blending of sacred and secular; world view that has secular supported by the sacred;
architectonic

6) motet: Machaut: "Quant en moy" (1350) (K 1.6)

•smaller rhythmic units: repeated bricks rather than long layers

•cantus firmus: repeated measured chant
•sacred and secular merger emphasized by used of different texts and different languages
(religious and vernacular)
•cantus firmus=instrumental (wordless)

musical construction changes here from joining the flow of celestial harmony to
recreating the mathematical formulas found in the nature

consciously compositional and calculating

from the bottom to the top, each line of music is increasingly active: the chant segments
move the most slowly, the middle voice moves at a moderate pace, the upper voice
moves very quickly; this is related to text: the bottom line is untexted, the middle line
sets about half as much text as the upper line

form: each stanza of the poem is set to music in the same rhythm but not the same
melody, which can be heard best in the hockets, where the two upper voices interact with
one another in quick succession with short motives; because the upper two voices have
different texts, the hockets provide the only moments when the text is clear—offering a
key to the meaning of the piece

isorhythm: creating cycles of sound through repetitive rhythms without a repeating

melody

21M011 (spring, 2006)

Ellen T. Harris
Lecture II

Renaissance (1400-1600)

•growing role of the individual and lessening authority of the church (Renaissance
humanism)
•Reformation: Martin Luther (1483-1546); Church of England (1534)
•rise of city states and the era of princes: rule of the Medici (from 1430), Machiavelli
(1469-1527)
•age of exploration and scientific discovery: Copernicus (1473-1564), Columbus (first
voyage 1492), Da Gama (voyage to India 1497), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1505)
•development of printing press and disbursement of knowledge: Gutenberg (1398-1468)
•great artists: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Shakespeare
(1564-1616)

Continuing use of medieval musical structures in the Renaissance:

cantus firmus techniques
fragmentation and repetition of chant in all parts as impetus
(origin)
as well as these differences:
growing role of the individual and lessening authority of the church (Renaissance
humanism)
increased tunefulness (melody and rhythm)

A Cappella Sacred Music

1) Dufay, “Ave maris stella”: harmonized Gregorian hymn (K 1.7)

paraphrase of chant melody (ornamented and rhythmicized)
homophony

***If the great discovery in music of the middle ages is the development of a musical
architecture, moving from a layering process to a more motivic (brick-like) construction,
in which rhythmic, metered, and secular melodies are supported by and constructed out
of sacred origins,

***then the great musical discovery of the renaissance was the development of points of
imitation, humanly-conceived and independent of chant, as the means of creating large-
scale and multi-voiced musical structures. Ideal of equality/balance among all the parts
(compare to organum or Machaut’s “Quant en moi”) and of a cappella singing. Text-
dominated composition vs. layers/patterns of construction.

2) Josquin, Pange lingua Mass, “Kyrie” and “Gloria” (K 1.8 and 9)

 “Kyrie”: points of imitation
Please note that Kerman/Tomlinson gives a simplified analysis of this movement. He
writes that the Kyrie has one point of imitation, the Christe has two, and the final Kyrie
has one. This is a relatively easy way to hear the piece. If you want to try to listen
harder, this is what you must keep in mind. The chant on which this movement is based
has six phrases. Kerman/Tomlinson gives them in the right margin of p. 80. Josquin
builds a point of imitation on each of these in order, emphasizing the opening motive of
each. The first two occur in the first Kyrie, but do not differ significantly from each other
as the first emphasizes a rising and falling half-step, whereas the second emphasizes the
rising and falling whole step. In the succession of entries given by Kerman/Tomlinson,
the first point consists of tenor, bass, wait, soprano, alto. After his second wait, the
second point consists of the following three entries for bass, tenor and soprano. The two
points in the Christe, based on phrases 3 and 4 of the chant are easier to distinguish as the
second point begins with the first entry of the word “eleison.” The final Kyrie begins
with a point of imitation on phrase 5, which Josquin disguises somewhat by omitting the
first note of the chant phrase and using a falling and rising third; its entrances occur in
descending order of soprano, alto, tenor, bass. The last point follows and is built on the
same opening motive as the second point of the Christe with descending entries (as in
point 5): soprano, alto, [tenor—very free], bass. You do NOT need to be able to hear all
this, but it’s worth trying to capture it with repeated listening.
“Gloria”: beginning of polyphonic textural contrast

3) Palestrina, Pope Marcellus Mass, “Gloria” (K 1.10)

Reformation (Luther: 1517)/Counter-Reformation (1545)
homophony/rich vocal sonority

Madrigal

With the development of texture-driven formal structures, came the idea of contrast.
(Josquin, Palestrina). Textural contrast, in connection with increased personal
expressiveness, led to an increased emphasis on the text. Although this is apparent in all
vocal music, sacred and secular, it is particularly obvious in the secular madrigal. This
form of secular a cappella part-song was established in Italy and then flowered separately
in England. The illustration of specific words in music is often called madrigalism as a
result. It is also called word-painting.

4) Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575-1623) (K 1.11)

As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending
She spied a maiden Queen the same ascending,
Attended on by all the shepherds' swain;
To whom Diana's darlings came running down amain
First two by two, then three by three together
Leaving their Goddess all alone, hasted thither;
And mingling with the shepherds of her train,
With mirthful tunes her presence did entertain.
Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana:
Long live fair Oriana!

Please note that Kerman/Tomlinson gives the traditional reading of this text, saying that
Oriana represents Queen Elizabeth I. This older view has now been corrected in an
article published in the Journal of the American Musicological Society in January 2006.
The association with Elizabeth only arose in the late 18th century and has continued since
that time. In fact, Oriana represents Ann of Denmark, queen of King James VI of
Scotland, who became King of England (James II) after Elizabeth’s death. This madrigal
supports his succession during the lifetime of Elizabeth, which was treasonous. In this
madrigal, Vesta (the virgin goddess) represents Elizabeth descending; Oriana (the good
wife of the legendary Amadis) represents Queen Ann rising; Diana, who celebrates the
arrival of Oriana, represents the sister of Lord Essex who had just been executed for
treason.

John Farmer (b. c1570): “Fair Phyllis”

Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone monophony (“all alone”)
Feeding her flock near to the mountain side. homophony (“flock)
The shepherds knew not whither she was gone imitation (shepherds’ confusion)
But after her lover Amyntas hied. echo (Amyntas following)
Up and down he wandered whilst she was missing, up and down (up and down!)
When he found her, O, then they fell a-kissing. triple meter, dance-like
(fell a-kissing”)

The repetition of the last two lines then changes the grammatical structure and adds an
additional sexual charge to the madrigal—“O, then they fell a-kissing up and down …”

Recording: The King’s Singers’ Madrigal History Tour, Anthony Rooley, conductor
(EMI Records, 1989)

Instrumental Music

Increasing development of instrumental music as a self-sustained genre independent of

accompaniment through the dance

5.1) “Daphne” (K 1.12)

5.2) “Kemp’s Jig”—late 16th c. (K 1.13)
rhythm strong pulse
form AAB
B=aab
b=aab
(that is, each B divisible into aab through two levels)
melody continual and increasing elaboration, ornamentation
timbre: contrast of recorder and string instrument

EARLY BAROQUE (1600-1650)

medieval: architectonic
renaissance: humanistic expression
early baroque: personal expression in solo song and opera

Motet

6) Gabrieli, O magnum mysterium (pub. 1615) (K 1.14)

not a biblical text

word painting (sacred madrigal)/ “O” astonishment
instrumental accompaniment: “sumptuous blend of brass instruments and voices”
wider range of sound; in particular, rich bass sound
sequence: at beginning and end
antiphonal writing
21M011 (spring, 2006)

Ellen T. Harris

Lecture III

Baroque (order and extravagance)

Science: Newton (mechanics, gravity), Leibniz, Harvey (circulation of the blood), Kepler

Philosophy: Descartes (analysis and classification of human emotions), Spinoza, Locke,

Hume (individual and the state)

Art: Rubens, Bernini, Tiepolo, Velasquez; elaborate formal gardens indicating man’s

control over nature

Literature, Drama and poetry: Milton, Racine, Dryden; birth of the novel: Fielding (Tom

Jones), Defoe (Robinson Crusoe)

Exploration and colonialism: Hudson explores the later-named Hudson River (1609);

landing of Pilgrims at Plymouth (1620); Manhattan bought from native Americans

(1626); Boston founded (1630); Harvard University founded (1636)

Politics: absolutism (“divine right of kings”) supplanting the Church as power base

(Louis XIV [1638-1715]; Peter I, Tsar of Russia), Thirty Years War (1618-1648),

English Civil War and Commonwealth period (1642-1660)

Rise of instrumental music

triple derivation: 1. dance and 2. virtuosity (e.g. Kemp’s Jig), and 3. vocal music (form

and texture)

Style features:

Texture: continuo homophony and counterpoint (points of imitation)

Harmony: 1) “functional harmony”: each chord has its own function in relation to the

home chord or tonic; 2) change from Renaissance: instead of 8 church modes, 2 modes

(major and minor) transposable to/interchangeable at any pitch; 3) tuning (equal

temperament) allowed free transposition; 4) increased use of dissonance as a means of

increasing intensity and forward motion

Rhythm: definite and regular; clear meter, repeating beat patterns (dance), energy

Melody: extended (spinning out “endlessly”), ornamented and ornate, embedded use of

sequence

Form: ground bass and ritornello (derived from vocal music)

Dynamics: strong contrasts (solo, ripieno; echo effects)

Tone color/Timbre: vastly increased in variety and originality, but in many cases flexible;

“birth” of orchestra with core of strings (Louis XIV); continuo

Tempo: tends to be regular with even beat patterns (related to dance)

Today’s genre:

Concerto (concerted [to bring together] or “concertare” [to dispute or contend])

solo vs. ripieno

movements in the tempo pattern fast-slow-fast

Terms:

concerto/ concerto grosso

basso continuo/ continuo/ figured bass (harmonic support of Baroque music, a bass line

with numbers [figures] that indicate the specific chords; used in all but solo
keyboard music)
ground bass/basso ostinato (found in Frescobaldi, Passacaglia; Vivaldi, slow movement;
Purcell, aria; note: “ostinato” also used to depict repeated unit anywhere, not
just in bass)
walking bass (a bass that moves in absolutely even notes, i.e. that “walks”: Bach Suite,
Air)
(compare all three of the above to cantus firmus)
ritornello (return/refrain), theme, motive
solo, ripieno (full, ripe), tutti
suite, movement
cadence, cadenza
sequence (not to be confused with medieval sequence)
fugue, entry

1) Vivaldi, Violin Concerto in G, La stravaganza, Opus 4, No. 12 (1712-13) K 1.23

first movement: fast, ritornello form
Note: 1) segmented ritornello (here abc), with the return of sections
2) sequence in b
3) increasing freedom of ritornello
4) solos largely episodic

second movement: slow, ground bass (variation form) K 1.24

Note: 1) major to minor shift in variation 5&6
2) perhaps more familiar example is Pachabel’s “Canon”

third movement: fast, free ritornello form K 1.25

Note: 1) opens with solo

2) Rit. 2 not related to Rit. 1

3) Rit. 3: minor

2) Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 for flute, violin, harpsichord, and orchestra
(before 1721)
Performed by
Concertino:
Ole Nielsen, flute (G) Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Amanda Wang, violin (G) Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Mary Farbood, harpsichord (G) Media Arts and Sciences
Ripieno:
Jacqueline O’Connor, violin (06) Aeronautics and Astronautics
Marcus Thompson, viola (Faculty) Music and Theater Arts
Sunny Wicks, cello (07) Aeronautics and Astronautics
Paul Glenn, bass (guest) President of Bauer Associates
Kerman/Tomlinson provides the first movement only; we will study the entire work. The
recording we will use for these movements is Boston Baroque, Martin Pearlman, director,
Brandenburg concertos nos. 4, 5 & 6 (Telarc, 1993)

first movement: fast, ritornello form K 2.1-5

Note: 1) segmented ritornello as in Vivaldi (abc)
2) solos contain recurring motives of their own (not just episodic): (a)
descending scale, (b) triplets, (c) version of Rit. “b”
3) long center section dominated by solos, unique motives
4) opening section (R1-R5) closed in tonic key, returns after center
section at R7, creating large ABA’ form
5) A’ differs from A by inclusion of large cadenza (parallel to da capo
form)
second movement: slow, ritornello form
Note: 1) solo instruments only: trio sonata texture (two treble parts with
continuo)
2) continuing use of ritornello form with the contrast of solo vs.
ripieno; ripieno signaled by harpsichord playing as continuo
3) “solos” (or episodes) have independent motivic structure,
nevertheless related to ritornello theme, with independent, solo
harpsichord part (1st episode at 0:42 in Pearlman)
4) inversion of episode theme (2nd episode at 1:26 in Pearlman)
third movement: fast, fugue
Note: 1) fugue is like one enormous point of imitation
2) soloists begin; ripieno treated as additional soloists
3) the equality of the parts (entries) makes this essentially an ensemble
movement without typical ritornello/solo alternation
4) opening section includes all the entries followed by material related
to fugue theme, moving away from tonic and returning for strong
tonic cadence (at 1:16 in Pearlman)
5) middle section largely for soloists with tutti interjections;
harpsichord increasingly dominates, harmonic pedal increases
tension before return to tonic (at 3:46 in Pearlman)
6) final section is exact repetition of first (=da capo form)

Other baroque instrumental forms discussed in section:

dance suite (repeated binary form; minuet-trio form)

Frescobaldi (canzona = early fugal form based on point of imitation; passacaglia = type
of ground bass) K 1:19-22
Bach (walking bass)

fugue Bach, Art of Fugue K 1.26-27

21M011 (spring, 2006)
Ellen T. Harris
Lecture IV

Baroque Vocal Music

Genres: Terms:
opera (per musica) aria (air)
opera seria recitative
opera buffa secco (simple)
oratorio accompanied
church cantata word-painting
castrato

Opera

1. Monteverdi, The Coronation of Poppea (1642) K 1.15-16

recitative: recitation, declamation, syllabic, fluid/free form, reduced accompaniment

continuo: bass line played by cello and harmonized by harpsichord or lute
aria: more elaborate, ornamented, repetitive forms, richer accompaniment

castrato: male treble, virtuoso singer

music as drama
musical characterization of individuals

2. Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (1689)

RecitativeÆ ariaÆ chorus

Recitative: “Thy hand, Belinda” K 1.17

Vocal descent through chromatic line, as Dido sinks into death
Largely syllabic recitation, but still with some melismas (“darkness” extended
like a miasma around her)

Aria: “When I am laid in earth” K 1.17

Chromatic ground bass (relentless fate)
Rising vocal line pushes away and cadences overlap (elide) until Dido “meets”
her fate at the joint vocal and ground bass cadence (“forget my fate”)
instrumental postlude: full chromatic scale from top of register
Recitative and Aria performed by Ellen Harris (music faculty), voice and piano

Chorus: “With drooping wings” K 1.18

Full diatonic scale from top to bottom (moving from the transcendental to those
left on earth to mourn)
Madrigal word-painting: “drooping,” “scatter,” “soft,” “never”
3. Handel, Giulio Cesare (1724): opera seria

RecitativeÆ aria

Recitative: more like recitation, less melody, moves very quickly (secco or simple
recitative) NOT INCLUDED with example
Aria: “La giustizia” (“Justice”) K 2.8
da capo form
unison violins and continuo
“revenge aria”: one of many types of affects depicted by da capo arias
singularity of the accompaniment
rushing scales and forward motion
especially long coloratura (melismas) on “vendetta,” “traditor” (=arrow
ready for vengeance)
high notes on “punire”
ornamentation on da capo makes it less a repetition and more of a heightening
(racheting up) of intensity

4. other examples of Handel arias, showing da capo form, manipulation of the formal
template, instrumentation

Rinaldo (1711) complete recording: Cecilia Bartoli with Christopher Hogwood,

conductor (l’Oiseau-lyre, 2000)

1. Armida (a sorceress): da capo aria

(harpsichord solo in the A section; in the B section strings pizzicato in running eighths)

A: Vo’ far guerra, e vincer voglio I shall wage war, and will defeat
collo sdegno chi m’offende with disdain the man who has insulted me
vendicar i torti miei. to avenge my wrongs.

B: Per abbatter quell’orgoglio, The gods themselves will be with me

ch'il gran foco in sen m’accende, in crushing the pride
saran meco i stessi Dei. that enrages me.

A: da capo
2. Armida: accompanied recitative and da capo aria
(accompanied recitative: strings reflect her shifting mood—longing and agitated)
(longing bassoon-oboe duet in A section moving into 2-note motive: “crudel” and
“pietà”; in B section raging runs in orchestra and voice)

recitative
Dunque i lacci d’un volto, So the snare of a face,

tante gioie promesse, the promise of so much joy,

li spaventi d’Inferno, and the terrors of hell

forza n’avran per arrestar quel crudo? are not strong enough to hold that cruel

man?
E tu il segui, o mio core! My heart, you go with him!
Fatto trofeo d’un infelice amore!
You are the trophy of an unhappy love!

No:// si svegli ‘l furore,

No:// let my anger arise,

si raggiunga l’ingrato,
and find the ungrateful man,

cada a’ miei piè svenato.//

let him fall lifeless at my feet.//

Ohimè! Che fia!

Alas! How can it be?

Uccider l’alma mia?

Can I kill the man I love?

Ah! Debole mio petto,

Ah, my feeble heart,

a un traditor anco puoi dar ricetto?//

Can you shelter a traitor still?//

Su, furie, ritrovate

Arise, furies, and discover

nova sorte di pena e di flagello;

new types of pain and punishment;

s’uccida, sì.// Eh! No. ch’è troppo bello.

let him die.// Ah, no, for he is too handsome.

aria
A: Ah, crudel! Ah! Cruel man,
il pianto mio, for pity’s sake,
deh! Ti mova per pietà. be moved by my tears.

B: O infedel Unfaithful
al mio desio to my desire
proverai la crudeltà. you will feel my cruelty.

A: da capo
3. Semele (1744) after the manner of an Oratorio, complete recording: Samuel Ramey
with John Nelson , conductor (Deutsche Grammophon, 1990)
Somnus (the god of Sleep):

A: Leave me, loathsome light.

Receive me, silent night.

B: Lethe, why does thy ling’ring current cease?

Oh, murmur me again to peace.

(rich four-part strings; Somnus becomes increasingly tired and falls asleep at the end of
the B section; listen to how incomplete the aria sounds—not only have you become
accustomed to hearing the return of text and music, but listen for the ending in the
“wrong” key that is not the key of the beginning)

The Enlightenment can be defined in part by its interest in rational methods of analysis
and classification; it was the era of the encyclopedists; we find this outlook in Bach’s
exploration of all 24 keys in the Well-Tempered Clavier or in his close examination and
explication of contrapuntal methods in the Art of the Fugue; similarly, Handel, in his
lifetime (in opera, oratorio, cantata), wrote over 2000 arias, resulting in an encyclopedic
investigation of human emotion.

See next page for comparison of da capo, ritornello, and fugue form.
Da Capo form (typical “five-part” pattern of late Baroque era):

A R1 S1 (=A1) R2 S2 (=A2) R3 ||
home key new key(s)Æ home key
(these 5 parts=A section)

B S3 (=B section)
new keyÆ
A da capo (“from the head” or “from the top”: from R1 to R3)

Ritornello form:

Brandenburg #5, mvt 1 (shown in relation to da capo form)

A (=A1) (=A2)
R1 E1 R2 E2 R3 E3 R4 E4 R5
medium tutti solo/t t s(t) t s(t) t s(t) t
motives abc xy/a a b b free(a) b x-by b
keys homeÆ newÆ home
track/time (1) (2)
measure/bar 1 9 19 21 29 32 40 42 58

B E5 R6 E6
s(t) t s/t
b/c--a free a xy/a
new (encompassing what (like E1)
Kerman calls the “central solo”)
(2/0:06) (3)
61 110 111

A R7 E7 R8 E8 R9
t s(t) t s(t)--solo t
ab b b zw--cadenza abc
I I I I-x-V I
homeÆ
(3/1:30) (4) (5)
121 126 137 140 219 (-227)

Fugue (related to da capo and ritornello form)

subject episode subj. episode subj. episode subj.

home keyÆ new key(s)Æ home key
=Rit. S1 R2 S2 R3 S3 R4

Brandenburg #5, mvt 3: is actually in Da Capo form (that is, the return is not written out)
and, further, the ritornellos are fugal, so that Bach is combining three forms in this
movement
Oratorio

3. Handel, Messiah (1741)

a. “There were shepherds”—“Glory to God” K 2.9

SeccoÆAccompaniedÆSeccoÆAccompaniedÆChorus

•Musical imagery of angel wings in the accompanied recitatives and chorus

•Word-painting in chorus: “highest” = high voices; “earth” = low voices; “good will” =
fugue (acclamation of the “multitude of the heavenly host”) leading to sequence (coming
together)
•Instrumental postlude: decrescendo depicts angels departing

b. “Hallelujah” K 2.10

Chorus: “sacred madrigal” with very effective use of texture

•homophony: opening “Hallelujah” (and “Hallelujah” as refrain) representing
congregational voices joined together
•monophony: “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (=one God)
•counterpoint (fugue): “And he shall reign for ever and ever” (like a round, without end)

Church Cantata

4. Bach, “Christ lag in Todesbanden” K 2.11-13

chorale cantata: a sacred cantata based on a Lutheran chorale (hymn); use of the chorale
as a sacred, pre-existent foundation (similar to the earlier use of Gregorian chant
as a cantus firmus or paraphrased); typically each stanza of the chorale is given a
different compositional presentation
gapped chorale: a movement in which the chorale melody is heard in long notes phrase
by phrase against a continuously moving melody or texture in counterpoint to it
(see pattern in Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 160, right margin)

a. stanza 3:
•solo tenor against a continuous solo violin part (=death?)
•note how the music stops after the word “nichts” (nothing) and starts up again slowly
without the continuous violin part at first

b. stanza 4:
•the altos, doubled by organ, sing the chorale in long notes
•the continuous music consists of imitative entries of the other voices, like points of
imitation, phrase by phrase
•the imitative entries use paraphrase, while the alto uses quotation

c. stanza 7:
•a straightforward and richly harmonized version of the chorale

5. Bach, Chorale Prelude, “Christ lag in Todesbanden” K 2.14

chorale prelude: a composition for organ incorporating a chorale melody
•this prelude incorporates a continuous melody in the bass (organ pedals) played in
counterpoint with the chorale, which is heard without any gaps
21M011 (spring, 2006)
Ellen T. Harris
Lecture V

Classical Era (1750-1800)

1. Enlightenment: the application of rational, “scientific” principles to the social contract

(morality, education and politics), especially in terms of social injustice/breaking down
of monarchical and aristocratic societies/ so-called “rise of the middle class”/ freedom of
religion/ understanding of market economy

Great thinkers of the age include: Immanuel Kant, Rousseau, Voltaire, Adam Smith,
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson

1776: American Revolution

1789: French Revolution

Literature: continued expansion of the novel, examining social forces, women writers:
Frances Burney (1752-1840); Jane Austen (1775-1817)

2. “Classical” refers to the parallel “neo-classical” period in the visual arts and
architecture that was hugely influenced by Classical Greek and Roman models

Classical revival: a reaction against the extravagance and exuberance of the Baroque
(which term was first used as a derogatory description meaning misshapen black pearl)
toward order and symmetry

Various stimuli for these trends, in particular these two:

•archaeology: the excavations in Pompeii began in 1748; excavations in Greece began in
1751 led to the book The Antiquities of Athens (1762+); Winkelmann’s A History of the
Art of the Ancients (1764)
•architecture: revival of Palladian style of the Renaissance (this period itself considered a
“rebirth” of classical ideals; Andreas Palladio, an Italian architect of the 16th century who
attempted to recreate the style and proportions of the buildings of ancient Rome)

Art: Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) studied classical literature, went to Rome to study
Graeco-Roman sculpture; famous for his portraits, “formal rhetoric”; Thomas
Gainsborough (1727-1788); Jean-Honoré Fragonard (domestic “hedonism”; Jacques
Louis David (1748-1825) a painter of classical images, firm supporter of the revolution

Music influenced by both the “enlightenment” and “classical” traditions of this period

•public concerts: opera houses and concert halls

•opera: development of comic opera, depiction of contemporary, social life (rather than
historical or mythological) “common people” and/or middle class rising against the
aristocracy
•instrumental music: development of the symphonic form, new formal structures that
grow out of the symmetrical dance forms
Style features:

Texture: essentially homophonic with lyric melody predominating; “classical

counterpoint” included as a textural contrast within larger movements, used to heighten

tension or increase forward flow, treated with great clarity of structure (more transparent)

Harmony; slow harmonic rhythm; abandonment of basso continuo (harmony composed

in inner parts as part of homophonic structure); less adventuresome harmonies and

dissonances

Rhythm: a marked change from earlier periods, where the rhythmic flow tends to set up a

pulse or rhythmic pattern and maintain it; classical rhythms are varied, flexible,

distinctive

Melody: folk-like simplicity, song-like; organized into discrete phrases

Form: rather than formal patterns that expand by multiplication (ritornello, ground bass);

classical forms tend to expand hierarchically from within; expansion of rounded binary to

sonata form

Dynamics: variety and flexibility; wide gradations, carefully indicated

Tone Color/Timbre: development of the “Classical orchestra”: abolition of the continuo,

addition of middle range woodwinds (clarinets) and brass (horns) that complete the

texture and harmony; again, flexibility in use of tone color

Tempo: wider range of tempi and flexibility within single movements

Today’s genre: Symphony (from the Greek: united in sound); sym-biosis (united in life);

sym-pathy (united in feeling)

Movements: sonata allegro, slow movement, minuet, rondo

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony 40 in G minor (1788), first movement K 2:15-20

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Symphony 95 in C minor (1791) K 2:21-35

Variation form

[recall “Kemp’s Jig”: aab form in improvised variations, where the repeated ‘a’ is also
varied: aab a1a1′b1, a2a2′b2 a3a3′b3……

Classical music grows out of similar binary forms; but rather than expanding solely by
multiplication, the classical binary form (or rounded binary) is expanded through internal
and hierarchical elaboration

Haydn Symphony 95, second movement, variation form (Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 189; K

2:22-26)
Haydn’s music is typified by “continuous variation”; it is as if he could not leave a theme
be without adding variety; his music, therefore, is continuously developing; this will be
shown to be in direct contrast to Mozart, who seems not to have been able to stop
creating new themes, so that rather than vary or develop he was just as likely to write
something completely new
aabb a1a2b1b1 a3b2b3(trans.) a a4 b4 coda

beyond this linear form, listen to the larger, hierarchical form:

aabb a1a2b1b1 a3b2b3(trans.) a a4 b4 coda

A A′ B (minor) A′′ A′′′

A (theme) A′ (ornamented theme with added triplet sixteenth notes) B (developmental

section in minor; added winds for tone color; alteration of underlying formal template)

A′′ (compressed and elaborated repetition of AA′) A′′′ (coda)

Minuet-trio form

Haydn Symphony 95, third movement, minuet-trio (Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 193; K 2:29-

31)
introduction of rounded binary (aaba) form [compare to the hierarchical form of the
second movement]; note that b begins with a variation of a2 and that a′ begins with an
exact repetition of a1 – Haydn is always playing with his themes
minuet: a(=a1a2) :||: b(a2′b) a′(=a1coda)
trio: c :||: dc′
minuet: a || ba′

Sonata form (see next page)

Sonata forms (showing the use of continuing variation)

rounded binary

||: a :||: b a :||

Mozart Symphony 40, first movement, sonata form (Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 185)

||: A (Exposition) :||: B (Development) A′ (Recapitulation) :||
A (T1kT1s b T2T2′tT1′C) :||: B (T1′′T1iT1f) A′ (T1kT1s′ b′ T2′′T2′′′tT1′′′C′) Coda :||
15 16 17 18 19 20

Haydn Symphony 95, first movement, sonata form (Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 187)

||: A (Exposition) :||: B (Development) A′ (Recapitulation) ||
A (T1T1′ b T2T2′ C) :||: B (T1′′ T2′′ C′ T1′′′) A′ (T1′′′′ T2′′′ C′′) ||
21 0:49 22 0:42 0:59 23

[T=Theme; C=Cadence theme; b=bridge; k=closing; t=little thematic transition;

s=shortened; i=imitation; f=fragmented]
21M.011
FORMAL PATTERNS

1. variation form

A A' A'' A''' . . .

(each A may be in rounded binary form; individual variations may be in

secondary keys or in the opposite mode: major or minor)

variations may be based on a melody or a bass theme/harmonic scheme

2. ternary forms

a. simple ternary or song form

A B A

I X I

b. rondo

A B A C A . . . [coda]

I X1 I X2 I

or

ABACABA

ABCA

etc.

3. binary forms

a. simple binary form

||: a :||: b :||
I-X X-I
b. rounded binary form
||: a :||: b a :||
I-X X-I
c. sonata form

||: A :||: B A :||

[intro] T1-trans-T2-closing dev-retrans T1-trans-T2-closing [coda]
or or
bridge cadence
theme

[intro] exposition development recapitulation [coda]

I X modulation I ----------------
(tonic/ (second
home key) key)
Symphonic form
1. 1st movement/ sonata allegro

2. slow movement
a. binary
b. ternary
c. variation

3. minuet/trio; or scherzo/trio
||: a :||: b a :|| ||: c :||: d c :|| a || b a (note: no sectional repetitions on
A ÆI B ÆX A ÆI the return of the minuet/scherzo)
minuet trio minuet

4. rondo (or sonata/rondo)

Concerto form (and also the movement scheme for most sonatas)

1. concerto: 1st movement, double-exposition form (Kerman/Tomlinson: 201)

sonata: sonata form

2. slow movement

3. rondo

repertory

Mozart, Symphony No. 40 in G Minor (1st movt: sonata)

Haydn, Symphony No. 95 in C Minor (4 movts: sonata, variation, minuet, rondo)

Mozart, Piano Sonata in B-Flat, K. 570 (3rd movt: irregular rondo)

Mozart, Piano Concerto in A (1st movt: double-exposition sonata form)

Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (4 movts: sonata, variation, scherzo, sonata)

Beethoven, String Quartet in F, Op. 135 (2nd movt: scherzo-trio)

Chaikovsky (Tchaikovsky), Overture-Fantasy Romeo and Juliet (free sonata form)

Brahms, Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 (3rd movt: rondo)

Mahler, Symphony No. 1 (3rd movt: irregular march-trio)

Ravel, Piano Concerto in G (1st movt: compressed double-exposition sonata form)

Bartok, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (2nd movt: sonata form)

21M011 (spring, 2006)

Ellen T. Harris
Lecture VI

Classical Era: Opera

Three distinct genres:

1. Opera seria, continuing from the Baroque period used the same kind of (often
literally the same!) librettos depicting historical or, less often, mythological
events; arias continued to be in da capo form, now increasingly merged with
sonata form; arias became much longer, so there were fewer; recitative continued
to be both simple (secco) and accompanied; 3 acts; in Italian
2. Opera buffa, also continuing from the Baroque period, but more a product of the
Classical than Opera seria; began as a type of “intermezzo” (an entertainment in
between the acts of an Opera seria); characters were typically contemporary and
often depicted the lower classes or a mixture of lower and upper classes (with the
lower classes usually dominating in some way; frequently with a serving girl
outwitting her master—class and gender being two important and continuing
topics in Opera buffa); arias continued for some time to be in da capo form, but
gradually changed into more through-composed forms under the influence of
increased ensembles (or concerted movements for more than one singer: these
were largely absent in Opera seria, except for a few duets); ensembles were used
to close the acts and incorporated the crisis in the action, moving the plot forward;
ultimately the distinction in Opera seria between the action of the recitative versus
the aria as a pause in the action for the expression of deep emotion was
completely (or just about completely) abandoned in favor of a dramatic structure
in which all the music (recitative, aria and ensemble) carried the action forward;
recitative typically secco only; 2 acts (growing out of the expansion of the
intermezzo through the 2 intermissions of Opera seria); in Italian
3. Singspiel, a type of music drama that sprang up in various European countries by
mid-century in competition with Opera buffa; used spoken dialogue combined
with musical numbers (Ballad Opera in England; Opera Comique in France); in
the vernacular (thus: Singspiel [a “singing play”] in German); absorbed and
adapted the ensembles and forward trajectory of Opera buffa while still admitting
musical numbers that stopped the flow of action for emotional exploration;
Singspiel based on texts that depicted country life or magic; Ballad Opera began
as political satire but increasingly turned to sentimental drama; Opera comique
began depicting country life but became increasingly political (Revolutionary
drama); this in turn had an impact on Singspiel; Beethoven’s one opera, Fidelio,
is a Singspiel based on a French Revolutionary opera; typically 2 acts
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

A prodigy: first public performances on keyboard at the age of 6; early compositions for
keyboard and orchestra date from around the same time (but heavily indebted to his
father Leopold)

His earliest symphonies (definitely attributable) dating from before 1767 are in the
“concerto” 3-movement form without minuet-trio; symphonies from 1768 (dating from
his trip to Vienna) take on the four-movement form

Mozart began writing opera/music drama at the age of 11:

1767: Apollo et Hyacinthus (a Latin school drama)
1768: La finta semplice (opera buffa)
Bastien und Bastienne (Singspiel)
1770: Mitridate (opera seria) for Milan, placed him squarely in the international circuit
…
With the following two works in 1781, Mozart reached the top of his profession
1781: Idomeneo (opera seria)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Singspiel)
…
Trio of operas with librettos by Lorenzo Da Ponte represent a merging of the buffa and
seria styles
1786: Le nozze di Figaro
1787: Don Giovanni
1790: Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti
…
Last operas:
1791: Die Zauberflöte (Singspiel)
La clemenza di Tito (opera seria)

Don Giovanni
“a dramatic testimony to powerful class and gender oppositions fuming in Enlightenment
Europe”

Cast list: (note: Don=Sir and Donna=Lady)

Don Giovanni (an aristocrat who is a scoundrel)
Donna Anna (an aristocratic lady seduced by Don Giovanni)
Don Ottavio (an aristocrat who is Donna Anna’s fiance)
Donna Elvira (an aristocratic lady previously seduced by Don Giovanni)
Commendatore (Donna Anna’s father)

Leporello (Don Giovanni’s servant)

Zerlina (a peasant girl, betrothed to Masetto)
Masetto (a peasant)

As opposed to Baroque opera that depicts emotion; Mozart’s late operas depict character.
Dramatic action of movements discussed:
Leporello: “Notte e giorno faticar”
pacing back and forth; syllabic; no ornamentation; 8-bar phrase that extends rather than
ends (depicting the waiting); accompaniment picks up when he expresses his wish to be a
“gentleman”; use of “patter”
Donna Anna and Don Giovanni: “Non sperar, se non m’uccidi”
Don Giovanni running out of Donna Anna’s bedroom with Donna Anna struggling to
determine his identity; she sings the first line; the stage direction says that “Don Giovanni
tries to conceal his features”; musically, therefore, he mimics her line rather than taking
on any musical characteristics of his own; this continues throughout the scene until
Donna Anna’s exit; after Don Giovanni kills her father, he still continues with “her”
music, even though it is now in minor—throughout the opera Don Giovanni is a musical
chameleon
(Throughout this scene, Leporello mutters and comments from his hiding place)
Donna Elvira: “Ah, chi mi dice mai”
“out of bounds”; huge dynamic contrasts; rhythmic discontinuities; extended phrase
structure; huge leaps; Elvira is often described as having “Baroque” music; depicting her
as unstable
(throughout this scene Don Giovanni and Leporello comment on this “poor woman,”
only realizing who she is at the very end, dissolving the aria into recitative)
Zerlina and Masetto: “Giovinette che fatte all’amore”
Like a peasant dance; sustained drone (supposedly like a bagpipe); 6/8 meter; Zerlina
starts and Masetto follows with the same tune
Masetto: “Ho capito, signor sì” K 2:39
Sings alternately to Giovanni, to Leporello (who is trying to drag him away) and to
Zerlina (whom he rebukes for being shameless by sarcastically referring to her as a
“lady”) See Kerman/Tomlinson
Zerlina and Don Giovanni: “Là chi darem la mano” K 2:41
Performed by Pamela Wood (Music faculty) soprano, Michael Ouellette (Theater
faculty), baritone, Charles Shadle (Music faculty) piano
Don Giovanni begins in a simple tune accompanied with simple chords in a clear 8-
measure phrase; Zerlina responds by saying she is hesitant, but with his tune (indicating
that he’s “calling the tune”); they then alternate phrases with Giovanni asking on the
dominant (the chord that calls out for resolution to the tonic), which Zerlina avoids
giving; then their phrases overlap, bringing them closer and closer; note the difference in
Zerlina’s repetition of “presto non son più forte” (“already I’m not strong enough”)
where the ending of the phrase droops rather than rises, indicating further weakening;
finally she consents and they reach the tonic together in a little dance in 6/8 with drone.
Its relation to the “wedding song” of Zerlina and Masetto (“Giovinette”) shows how
completely Giovanni has stepped into Masetto’s shoes (as this section is so close in style
to the wedding song “Giovenette” above). See Kerman/Tomlinson
21M011 (spring, 2006)
Ellen T. Harris
Lecture VII

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Like Monteverdi, who bridges the Renaissance and the Baroque, Beethoven stands
between two eras, not fully encompassed by either. He inherited the Classical style
through Mozart and Haydn, and this is represented in works from what is typically called
his “first period” (to about 1800), during which time Beethoven performed actively as a
virtuoso pianist. The “middle period” (about 1800 to 1818) saw Beethoven break
through the classical templates as he wrestled with his increasing deafness, the growing
inability to perform or conduct, and his disillusion with Napoleon, whom he had
considered a hero of the French Revolution until Napoleon declared himself Emperor in
1804.

1802: Heiligenstadt Testament depicts Beethoven’s desolation over his deafness;

1803: composition of the 3rd Symphony, originally titled Bonaparte, but changed to
Eroica after,
1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor
1808: 5th Symphony in C minor, Op. 67

From Beethoven’s middle period come the works most often associated with Beethoven
and with what is known of his personality: forceful, uncompromising, angry, willful,
suffering, but overcoming extraordinary personal hardship, all of which traits are read
into his music. The Romantic cult of the individual who represents himself in his music
and of the genius who suffers for his art begins here with Beethoven.

Beethoven’s “late period” (1818 to his death [1827]) becomes more introspective and
abstract, as Beethoven’s deafness increasingly forces him to retreat into himself.
Although the 9th Symphony dates from these years, it is the only symphony to do so, and,
in many respects, is a throwback to the middle period. The late period is typified more
by smaller, more complex chamber works, among which the “late quartets” are the most
abstract in style.
1826: String Quartet in F, Op. 135, 2nd movement K 3:21

**

Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

This complete four-movement work is discussed by Kerman/Tomlinson, pp. 227-233; it

follows the typical symphonic pattern at the same time as it moves beyond it in multiple
ways. The four-movement scheme is: sonata, slow movement (variations), “minuet-trio”
(scherzo), finale (sonata form).
1st movement (K 3:6-14): perhaps known in some form to more people than any other
classical work. It begins with a declaration of its “motive” in a four-measure phrase with
a hold (fermata) on the second and fourth measures. In some ways this is a preliminary
statement, a slow introduction reduced to its smallest components. There is no clear
meter, nor even key (it could be E-flat major rather than C minor), certainly no melody to
speak of—only this motivic “seed” from which the entire symphony takes sustenance.
We have not heard a symphony with a slow introduction before the exposition of the first
movement, but they were common. Haydn used them frequently, and Beethoven did as
well in his earlier (and later) symphonies. Typically they present less formed material
than occurs in the exposition: the harmony is often in flux and distant from the key of the
movement, and the overall feeling is anticipatory. Never are they as profiled or chiseled
as the four measures that begin the 5th Symphony. Further, the fermata at the end of the
first theme brings into question whether the exposition has actually begun, even at this
late point, or whether this is just an extension of the anticipatory section. Beethoven
persistently keeps the listener on edge, upsetting convention and expectation.

It becomes clear pretty quickly, however, that the little, four-note motive is going to
dominate the movement. It forms the four-bar “introduction,” first theme, transition
material and the bridge to the new key; it harps away under the more lyrical (major)
second theme, and forms the closing (or cadence theme) as well. In the development the
bridge theme of four notes is reduced to three, to two and then to one (!) note, but the
theme is so dominant that even the one note is recognizable as thematic. The
recapitulation begins with the motivic announcement again, suggesting maybe that this IS
a part of the 1st theme; slow introductions do not normally return at this point. Then over
the fermata at the end of the 8-bar theme, an oboe cadenza unexpectedly appears, a hint
perhaps, in the maelstrom of this relentless movement, of a different kind of time, of
beauty and of peace. The coda explodes out of the recapitulation, again referring to the
main motive, and develops into what Kerman/Tomlinson calls a “grim minor-mode
march.”

In the second movement (K 3:15-16): double variations in A-flat major; 1st theme
(cellos), 2nd theme (clarinets and bassoons)Ægrabbed by trumpets who blare it in C
major. The trumpet “snatch” emphasizes an unexpected relationship between this second
theme and the rhythmic motive of the first movement, which is emphasized by the
hushed (frightened) section where the motive sounds more clearly. The repeated ff
interruptions of the trumpets during the second theme (in the midst of what otherwise
would seem to be a straight-forward set of double variations) give this movement an
increasingly disturbing and ominous feel.

Third movement (K 3:17-18): again starts off with cellos, now with a mysterious, hushed
sound. Again the brass, now the French horns, interrupt with a loud, insistent version of
the 1st movement motive, now hammered on a single note. An alternation of these two
ideas fails to coalesce into the typical rounded binary form, but works almost like a small
double variation of its own through three hearings (aab | a′a′b′| a′′b′′). The next section
more traditionally plays the role of trio and does just about fall into rounded binary form
(c:||:dc), but the repetition of the second part is reorchestrated and runs without pause into
the return of the “scherzo” (c:||dc′| d′c′′), and the scherzo itself is shortened and
reorchestrated, and it disintegrates into a transition where the timpani play the 1st
movement rhythmic motive (the whole trio to scherzo looking like: c:||dc′| d′c′′a′′′---).

Finally, the tension and uncertainty is overcome (conquered?) with the entrance of the
triumphant C major march theme of the final movement. The second theme of this
sonata form movement then takes the 4-note rhythmic motive and transforms it into joy.
However, the return of the C minor scherzo at the end of the development (just before the
recapitulation) seems to imply that while one can overcome fate, one cannot eradicate it.

Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, no. 2 (1802)

Performed by Nick Joliat, special student in Physics and Music

This sonata was written in 1802, the year of the Heiligenstadt Testament. Beethoven is
said to have claimed that it was based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but this cannot be
taken to mean that it depicts the story through individual characterizations. Rather, if
there is a relationship, it would appear to be to the figure of Prospero, who overcomes all
the difficulties and obstacles that have been placed in his path. Beethoven, with the
increased onset of his deafness, may (MAY) have related to this story. At any event, the
sonata is certainly tempestuous. A recording of the sonata with Russell Sherman, pianist,
is available on Stellar. The following listening guide gives some of the important
structural moments. It is based on the recording by Russell Sherman: Ludwig van
Beethoven, Piano Sonatas (10 cds: GM Recordings, 1995-2000).

First movement: Sonata form

0:00 First theme has some characteristics of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony; it starts slowly
with a four note rising theme and pauses (as indicated by a fermata); it then rushes
forward (allegro) coming to a slow cadence and a second pause; this is then repeated and
expanded
0:52 Bridge: note the use of the rising four-note theme in the bass, now played very
loudly
1:15 Second theme group, part 1
1:28 Second theme group, part 2
1:50 Closing material
The exposition is then repeated
4:16 Development: first expanding the opening four-note theme in the very slow
tempo; then expanding the Bridge theme with the four-note theme in the bass
Recapitulation
5:50 First theme now with added recitative in the piano after the slow four-note theme
on both appearances (compare to the oboe cadenza in Beethoven’s 5th Symphony)
7:40 Second theme group
There is a short coda at the end

Second movement: a type of binary movement frequently referred to as a sonata form

without a development; that is, there are two themes that are differentiated by melody,
rhythm and harmony in the first part; these are recapitulated in the home key in the
second part
0:00 First theme: a standard 8-bar phrase but VERY expanded in terms of time
1:29 Bridge: note the oscillating four-note pattern (NOT the same as the first
movement) in the bass
2:34 Second theme, after which there is a short transition, using the oscillating Bridge
material back to the
3:47 Recapitulation
6:53 a more extended coda using the oscillating bass motive and some thematic
material; this is the closest this movement gets to a development

Third movement: Sonata form

0:00 First theme, a kind of perpetual motion that animates the whole movement
0:34 Second theme, recognizable by the rapid movement between two consecutive
notes
0:51 Closing material
The exposition is then repeated
2:22 Development, at first of the general motivic material
3:04 full statement of the First theme
Recapitulation
3:52 First theme
4:34 Second theme
5:10 Coda—very extended this time, including—
5:33 full statement of the First theme
6:01 abbreviated statement of the First theme
(note the recurrences of the first theme give a feeling of rondo form, and indeed
composers regularly blended these two forms in the final movements of symphonies and
sonatas)

--Another example from last semester

Violin Sonata, Op. 47 in A major/minor (“Kreutzer”) (1803), first movement
Performed by Amanda Wang, violin (G, EECS) and Yu Yasufuku, piano (G, Math)

Beethoven wrote this work for the violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, who
played it with Beethoven in 1803 (Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven: The Music and the Life
[New York, 2003] , p. 143). Only later was the dedication offered to Rodolphe Kreutzer,
a famous French violinist who taught at the Paris Conservatoire, but who never
performed the work. Beethoven himself described the piece as “Sonata scritta in un stilo
molto concertante quasi come d’un concerto” (“written in a highly concerto-like style,
almost in the manner of a concerto”). This was never a work intended for amateurs; it is
truly virtuosic throughout, showing Beethoven’s stretching of technique for both violin
and piano.

You will hear a “real” slow introduction, which vacillates between major and minor, an
important attribute of the following sonata form movement. The introduction starts off in
virtuoso style with the violin solo playing from 2 to 4 notes at a time (double-stopping);
this is in major, but the piano immediately responds in minor. This section increasingly
fragments as it progresses. The sonata movement in minor follows the typical plan of 1st
theme, transition, 2nd theme group (with two clear themes: I will call them theme 2 and 3)
plus closing. The development emphasizes the third theme. There are fermatas and
pauses throughout, which disrupt the forward motion. There is a mini, false
recapitulation for the piano in the wrong key before the “real” recapitulation enters in the
violin. The coda brings back the 1st theme and a long Adagio (slow) pause in the midst of
turbulent activity. In short, the movement contains most of the features you would expect
in this period from heroic Beethoven breaking through the bonds of tradition. Timings
follow the recording by Isaac Stern, violin, and Eugene Istomin, piano (Sony Classical,
1996, p1986).

0:00 slow introduction (major/minor, harmonic shifts, fragmentation)

1:37 EXPOSITION
theme 1 (A minor)
2:00 transition
2:43 theme 2 (E major [violin]; E minor [piano])
3:14 transitional material/closing? No, it leads to--
3:36 theme 3 (E minor)
4:04 closing
4:15 end of exposition on “deceptive cadence”
4:22 DEVELOPMENT using theme 3
6:23 mini, false recapitulation of theme 1 in wrong key (D minor for piano)
6:43 RECAPITULATION theme 1 in right key (A minor for violin)
7:39 theme 2 (A major [violin]; A minor [piano])
8:31 theme 3 (A minor)
9:15 coda
21M011 (spring, 2006)
Ellen T. Harris
Lecture VIII

Romantic Era (Nineteenth Century)

Literature: Gothic novels (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818), Grimm brothers Fairy
Tales, Thoreau’s Walden, Dickens
Poetry: Goethe, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Whitman, Blake, Edgar
Allan Poe
Visual Arts: Constable, Turner, Cezanne, Rodin, Renoir, Monet, Seurat, Van Gogh
Science, engineering and industrialization: Pasteur; McCormick’s mechanical reaper;
Morse’s telegraph; Daguerre’s photographs; first electric light; ether used for first time as
anesthetic (1846); Darwin Origin of Species (1859); first Atlantic cable (1864); first
transcontinental railway in U.S. (1869); Suez Canal (1869); Bell’s telephone (1876);
Edison’s phonograph; automobile patented by Daimler; Roentgen’s X-ray
Exploration: Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific (1806); first steamship crosses the
Atlantic (1818); Japan opened to the West (1853)
Politics: 1804: Napoleon crowns self Emperor; 1805: Battle of Trafalgar; War of 1812
between England and U.S.; Napoleon invades Russia (1812); Battle of Waterloo (1815);
Greek War of Independence (1822); July Revolution in France (1830); Polish revolt
(1830); Revolutions in France, Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Italian states (1848); Marx
and Engels, Communist Manifesto (1848); Italian risorgimento (1859-1861); Anti-slavery
movement in U.S.; Abraham Lincoln, United States Civil War (1861-1865); Spanish-
American War starts (1898)
Kerman/Tomlinson provides a good introduction to this century (pp. 235-242). The
following builds on that, emphasizing certain aspects.
1. The Romantic Era is closely tied to literature; the very name comes from the
literary world, whose authors themselves adopted the name “Romantics.” For
music, the close tie with literature is a dominant feature of the period. Composers
chose to set the words of their contemporaries, not just in opera and song, but text
became increasingly important in symphonies and piano music. Rather than
following some abstract form: ritornello, sonata form, composers molded their
music more freely to the sung text; examples include Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony, Berlioz’s “Dramatic Symphony” Romeo and Juliet. Even without
text, music frequently used a narrative or literary idea as an organizing idea or
affective basis. Thus, symphonies and overtures (frequently overtures to nothing)
were written that tell a specific story; sometimes these (loosely) followed
traditional forms; these are called “program music” or, later, particularly in the
music of Richard Strauss, “symphonic poems.” Examples include Beethoven’s
Pastoral Symphony; and, from your listening, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique;
Chaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy. A lot of piano music depicted
 specific images or characters rather than falling into the typical movement plan of
the sonata: from your listening, examples include Schumann’s Carnaval and
Chopin’s Nocturne. The tie to literature affects all aspects of music, but may be
most important in terms of loosening form.
2. The Romantic Era is closely tied to the individual: poetry, art and music strove in
the nineteenth century to represent individual feeling and emotion. This had
many effects on music of this century, one of which is the importance of the
composer’s life to his music, This is apparent in large-scale works, such as
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, and Wagner’s
Tristan. It also played an important part in the rise of the miniature. This
repertoire includes principally songs and piano pieces, frequently lasting only a
few minutes, depicting sometimes intense, sometimes fleeting emotions.
Sometimes composers grouped a lot of these into a larger set; in the case of songs,
these sets combined the miniatures into a longer narrative. The song was
dominated in the nineteenth century by German composers; examples from your
listening include Schubert, and Robert and Clara Schumann. As a result, the song
is often known by its German name: Lied or, plural, Lieder. Piano miniatures are
frequently called character pieces, since they depict a single character or mood;
more often than songs, these are grouped into sets. Examples include
Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words; Chopin’s Etudes and Preludes (like many
of the symphonic overtures, these preludes preceded nothing); and, from your
listening, Chopin’s Nocturnes, Schumann’s Carnaval and Mussorgsky’s Pictures
at an Exhibition (first written for piano and then orchestrated). [This aspect of the
Romantic also tied to Revolution: Chopin, Wagner, Verdi]
3. The Romantic Era is closely tied to the supernatural and macabre: as
Kerman/Tomlinson puts it, this fits in with the effort to transcend the ordinary and
the conventional. Goethe’s Faust and Shelley’s Frankenstein mark the beginning
of the Romantic fascination with the supernatural, which also finds strong voice
in such disparate authors as the Grimm brothers (fairy tales), Blake, and Edgar
Allan Poe. Music reacted strongly to such literature, ranging from Mendelssohn’s
inimitable depiction of the fairies in his “Overture to Midsummer Night’s Dream”
to Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre. Operas frequently used supernatural stories, like
Verdi’s setting of Macbeth or Wagner’s Flying Dutchman about a ghost ship
whose crew need the redemption of love to find eternal rest. Examples from your
listening include Schubert’s setting of Goethe’s Erlkönig, Schumann’s Die alten,
bösen Lieder, and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, which conjures up a
nightmare of witches. Related to the attraction to the supernatural is a fascination
with boundless nature, which, as Kerman/Tomlinson states, is sometimes
menacing. This sense of the overwhelming and the desolate in nature is depicted,
on the one hand, by the artist Turner and, on the other, by the poet Sir Walter
Scott, who dramatized old Scottish tales and ballads set in the Scottish lowlands
and highlands; Turner began his career painting scenes for opera, and Scott’s
works formed the basis of operas by Donizetti (Lucia da Lammermoor),
symphonic poems by Berlioz (Waverly and Rob-Roy) and some extraordinary
songs by Schubert (Lady of the Lake).
Style characteristics:
Texture: melody with accompaniment dominates; frequently very thick as opposed to the
clarity of the Classical era
Timbre: piano a dominant instrument (Lied, character piece, concerto); individual tone
color of single instrument; unique combinations of instruments (less focus on orchestral
sections: strings, woodwinds, brass)
Harmony: tonal, but with a weaker sense of key center due to chromaticism, fusion of
major and minor modes, deceptive cadences, modal harmonies of folk song; use of
harmony and specific sonorities to create mood
Rhythm: less regular: complex and rhapsodic (Chopin using groups of 5 or 11 notes to a
beat, for example); rubato (flexible tempo)
Melody: less regular: fragmentary or very extended (use of chromaticism, dynamic
climaxes)
Form: less regular: less dependence on standard forms, freer shapes of ballade or fantasy,
overlapping with vague boundaries, BUT use of motivic repetition or thematic
transformation to create cyclic forms (Schubert, Erlkönig; Berlioz, Symphonie
fantastique)

Romantic miniatures

Terms
lied, lieder character pieces
accompaniment nocturne
through-composed rubato
strophic strain
modified strophic
song cycle

Piano repertoire: Character pieces for piano: short piano works that convey a certain
mood or character, frequently given generic titles: preludes, ballades, nocturnes, etudes,
etc.

Schubert, Moment Musical

title is picturesque and poetic, creating no expectation other than brevity. Sometimes
these small forms gave composers a chance to experiment with juxtaposition of materials
and with structures without formal patterns. Compare to Berlioz, Fantastic Symphony,
fifth movement, where the form is created in response to the drama.
1. No. 2 in A-flat K 4:1
Starts out basically ABA′, and the piece could clearly end at this point. The return of B
in a new key and fortissimo is an anguished interruption/extension that the next return of
A cannot entirely quell—will it come back again after the return of A with its coda?

A (a a′) B A′ (a′′ coda) | B′ A′′ coda

0:00 0:35 1:20 2:23 3:17 | 3:57 4:54 5:36
Sometimes there is a close connection to the dance.
2. No. 3 in F minor (Kerman CD-Rom 10)
The use of three “strains” (a discrete or characteristic section or tune in dance or march
music) is similar to the form of the Renaissance galliard Daphne in your listening, but
even in such a small piece, there are other formal connections: (1) minuet-trio and (2)
ABA coda. The complexity of such little pieces can be astonishing, and close readings
offer multiple interpretations.

intro |: a :| |: b :| |: c :| a d a′ (3 strains plus coda)

0:00 0:03 0:26 0:49 1:14 1:25 1:42
min. Maj. m->M

other readings:
|: a :| |: b :|: cb :| a (coda) (“minuet/trio”)
A B A Æ coda (ternary)

Schumann, Carnaval
A collection of miniatures representing masked revelers at Carnival (festival in advance

of the period of penitence before Easter called Lent—e.g. Mardi gras = last day of Lent)

Schumann represents characters from improvised Italian comedy (commedia dell’arte),

Schumann’s friends and colleagues, and Schumann himself.

“On 8 June (his 21st birthday) Schumann wrote in his diary: ‘It sometimes seems … as if

my objective self wanted to separate itself completely from my subjective self, or as if I

stood between my appearance and my actual being, between form and shadow’ ” (John

Daverio, “Robert Schumann,”Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy).

In his musical criticism, Schumann signed himself by two distinct names:

Eusebius (=thoughtful dreamer, introspective)

Florestan (=impetuous and mercurial, prone to mood shifts, extrovert)

The full title of this collection is Carnaval: scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes: these

notes are A, E flat, C, B natural or A[E]s C H in German (see #10 of the set, below).

ASCH = name of town where Schumann’s fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken, lived or

Robert Alexander SCHumann

SCHA = SCHumAnn

ASCH = Ash (Ash Wednesday, first day of Lent); FASCHing = carnival

Kerman/Tomlinson implies by its wording that the abrupt, non-ending of the Florestan

movement leads directly to Chiarina (representing Clara Wieck, who would become

Schumann’s wife), but at this time Clara was only 13, and Schumann was engaged to

Ernestine. But beyond all of these facts, as the list of movements indicates, the

tempestuous Florestan movement leads directly to Coquette—a very different

implication.

Schumann, Carnival (depicts masked revelers at Carnival)

1. Preamble 12. Chopin
2. Pierrot 13. Estrella
(Baroness E. von Fricken)
3. Harlequin 14. Recognition
("Reconnaissance")
4. Noble Waltz 15. Pantalon and Columbine
5. Eusebius (poetic Schumann)
6. Florestan (passionate Schumann)
7. Coquette 16, 17. German Waltz-Paganini German Waltz
8. Rejoinder 18. Confession of Love
9 Butterflies (the title of an 19. Promenade
earlier piano cycle by Schumann 20, 21. Pause – March of the League of David
10. ASCH-SCHA: Dancing Letters against the Philistines (including
11. Chiarina (Schumann's beloved Clara) sections of the Preamble, no. 1)

“Eusebius” K 4:2
like Schubert’s Moment Musical, Eusebius has multiple formal implications; note
moreover, that a and b are not distinctively different. Motive a blurs the beat by using 7
equal notes per measure; motive b enlarges the upward intervallic leap and breaks the
measure into two parts, the first divided into 5 equal notes, the second 3 equal notes.
Motive a is accompanied by a rising chromatic line in the bass; motive b by a
descending chromatic line. If the movement were simply |: a :|: ba :| it would, obviously,
be in rounded binary form, but the interruption of the extra ba with thicker chords creates
a disruption in that formal scheme similar to the disruption in Schubert’s Moment
Musical No. 2 in A-flat that also expands what seems a conventional form.
a a b(=a′) a b a b a
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
0:00 0:23 0:52 1:19
fuller,
thicker chords
|: a :| ba BA ba (rounded binary with loud
disruption)
A B A′ (ternary with only texture and
dynamic contrast)

“Florestan” K 4:3
an impetuous single theme movement with “nostalgic” interruptions (indicated by a ‘p’ in
the chart below) from an earlier collection of piano pieces by Schumann, Papillons
(1831), based on a scene of a masked ball in a novel (Flegeljahre by Jean Paul);
“papillons” = butterflies, which relates to the theme of transformation inherent in the
masking.
Form: a [p] a [p] a |: b :| b’ a’
Timings: 0:00 0:11 0:26 0:51
# of measures: 8 2 8 4 8 |: 8 :| 8 12
section form: aaba aaba aaba caca ccc′c′ a a ASCH-ASCH
224 4
Chopin, Nocturne in F-sharp, Op. 15, No. 2 K 4:4
Nocturne = night piece (serenade? lament?); the blurring of the beat that occurs in
Schumann’s “Eusebius” is an inherent part of Chopin’s style and enhanced by extensive
use of rubato, a flexible adherence to tempo that allows for slowing down and speeding
up. Chopin’s use of groups of 3, 5, 6, 7 (and at one point 30!) notes over the space of 1 to
four measured notes creates a completely liquid sound on the surface. The underlying
structure, however, is amazingly regular and based on 8-bar phrases.
a a′ b c a′′ coda
0:00 0:26 0:57 1:27 2:13 2:54
A B A

Chopin, Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major

Performed by Lindy Blackburn, G (Physics), pianist

1. the “ballade” partakes of the piano miniature in its freedom of form, but is

typically bigger in length and substance

2. the term “ballade” derives from song and refers to a narrative that typically takes
strophic form (Der Erlkönig is a ballade)
3. Chopin wrote four ballades

Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major

A a legato (smooth) theme moving largely by step; it takes the shape of a ternary
statement: aba
B a more lively theme off the beat (syncopated); it also takes a ternary shape: cdc

C a true “central section” in the mode of a waltz; Chopinesque flowing notes

B return and extended development

A fortissimo return with much thicker texture (think of the similarly “thickened”
passage in Schumann’s Eusebius)

C coda using C material

Recording: Great Pianists of the 20th Century, vol. 85, Artur Rubinstein, piano (Philips
Classics, 1998)
Song Repertoire: read Kerman/Tomlinson; some emphases and additional points below
Performed by faculty members Ellen Harris (soprano) and Charles Shade (piano)

Clara Schumann: “Der Mond kommt sill gegangen” K 3:25

poem in three strophes
musical setting is in modified strophic form
the first two strophes are set alike, but the third differs
some reasons for the change:
the first two strophes speak of the atmosphere; the third is a personal statement
the third strophe has more syllables while maintaining the same poetic foot (or
accent pattern)
the first two strophes end reaching out, drifting; the third strophe “could” end this
way and “could” in fact be set to the same music as the first two (as
demonstrated in class), but this would give the song an inconclusive
ending and poor text setting
the changes to the third strophe include: a lengthening of note value for the word
“drunten” (down below); a quickening of note values on “funkeln”
(flickering candle light), a melodic climax (high note) on the reference to
the loved one’s house (“Haus”); a fragmented descent through the
darkness and stillness (“Dunkeln” and “Still”) to a definitive (and
therefore somewhat desolate) closure on “Welt hinaus” (the staring “out to
the world”).

Robert Schumann: “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai” K 3:23

the first song from the song cycle Dichterliebe (“A Poet’s Love”); the poems by Heinrich
Heine
poem in two stanzas
musical setting is strophic
the accompaniment blurs the main beat by anticipating it with a single note that is then
held over and not articulated on the beat--this happens repeatedly; the
accompaniment also repeatedly uses a melodic fragment that makes an upward
leap that goes a little “too far,” so creates a dissonance that needs to “relax”
downward by step; this melodic motion feels like yearning or longing and is often
used to depict the same; the same kind of occurs at the opening of “There’s a
place for us” in West Side Story (on “There’s a place” with the resolution on
“place”); the motion is also distinctive of the “love-death” motive of Wagner’s
Tristan und Isolde, on the listening for next week
the song doesn’t “end” in the sense of having a conclusive cadence; it just reaches out
(yearning) on a chord that asks for resolution

Robert Schumann: “Die alten, bösen Lieder” K 3:24

the last (16th) song of Dichterliebe; the love and yearning have not been reciprocated; this
song depicts the lover’s reaction: he wants to build a huge coffin in which to put
all the “old, hateful love songs” and describes just how big; he then explains why
it has to be so large: it will hold not just the songs but he will bury in it all his love
and grief
poem in 5 stanzas
musical setting is through-composed; that is, it doesn’t follow the strophic pattern or any
other pre-determined form
the first stanza sets the scene and Schumann sets the text with a highly profiled and
accented set of downward leaps; the repeated strong downward pulls emphasize
the dismissiveness, throwing away, burying of the text
stanzas 2-4 describe “how big”; each climaxes with a leap upward and with each strophe
the motion moves up one scale degree (the higher and higher notes depicting a
bigger and bigger stretch)
stanza 5 returns to what has to happen to the coffin; Schumann here returns to the music
of the opening strophe (varied)
stanza 6 (like the last strophe of Clara Schumann’s song) brings in the individual, the
use of first person, and here the music changes completely from the hammering
dismissiveness to quiet reflection (recitative-like) and disintegration
(fragmentation)
rather than end on this note, Schumann provides a substantial piano postlude; remember
that this is a postlude not just to one song, but to the set of 16; Kerman/Tomlinson
suggests that it is meant to comfort the poet; I rather think that its repeated
downward motion reaches back to the brutal downward motion of the opening of
this song, now transformed from the initial angry mood into the personal grief
expressed in the last strophe

Schubert, “Erlkönig” K 3:22

an individual song composed by Schubert at 18
poem in 8 stanzas by Goethe
the poem is rich in the use of form and style to depict its story: the rhythm of the wild
night ride through the woods is clearly heard in the rhythm of the poetic meter (as
read in class); the strophes are set up to indicate the progress of the story: stanza
1, the narrator sets the scene; stanza 2, the father asks what troubles his son, the
son identifies the Erlking, and the father dismisses the notion; stanza 3, the
Erlking entreats the boy to come with him and play games in a beautiful place;
stanza 4, the boy cries out to his father who tries to calm the boy; stanza 5, the
Erlking entreats the boy to come sing and dance with his daughters; stanza 6, the
boy cries out again and the father again offers empty consolation; stanza 7, the
Erlking, having lost patience, reaches out and grabs the boy by force, who cries
out for the last time (this is the first time that the Erlking and the boy have shared
a stanza; it indicates the coming together of death and the boy; the father doesn’t
respond; it is as if the Erlking has replaced the father); stanza 8, the narrator
describes the arrival at home and the death of the boy
Clearly the poetic meter, rhythm, strophic form and characterization are all important
elements of the poem; as a result, Goethe liked settings that preserved all of this;
an example of such a setting by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814; about the
same lifespan as Haydn); this setting uses strict strophic form, but the voice sings
in monotone (one note) for the Erlking’s part while the piano continues to play the
melody; this was Goethe’s favorite setting (performed in class)
Schubert’s setting puts the rhythm of the poem in the piano (the pounding hoofbeats of
the horse); as a result the rhythm of the poem is often drained from the setting of
the words; the father’s part lies low in the voice; the boy’s part lies high; the
father’s part is often accompanied by “empty” octaves, depicting his “empty”
consolation; the Erlking sings in major and tries to entreat the boy with jolly
melodies, but the boy cries out in pain, set by Schubert to a searing dissonance,
and each of his three responses rises higher as if the pain thus increases (compare
Schumann’s use of this rising technique to depict ever bigger); the Erlking’s last
lines are brutal and declamatory (no more pretended sweetness); the last strophe
returns to the rushing wind motive of the opening as the father drives the horse
faster and faster; Schubert depicts the arrival at home, the slowing and stopping,
and then drops into the most quiet and unembellished recitative to state that when
the father arrived home, the boy was—dead; and the song ends; the abruptness of
this ending adds to the shock; Goethe heard this setting but disapproved as the
music completely overwhelms the poem and its distinctive compositional
methods
 1

21M011 (spring, 2006)

Ellen T. Harris
Lecture IX

Romantic Grand Opera

The key elements of the nineteenth century emphasized last week for the “miniature”
repertoire, apply equally well to the “grandiose”:
1. tie to literature
2. tie to individual
3. tie to the supernatural and macabre

Nineteenth-century opera developed along two fronts.

Comic opera continued following Mozart in both its Italian through-composed form
with recitative (like Don Giovanni) and in the dialogue style common to France,
Germany and England. Giacomo Rossini (1792-1868) and Gaetano Donizetti (1797­
1848) were two composers whose comic operas sparkled in the early nineteenth century
and continue to hold a major place in operatic repertoire today. Dialogue style comic
opera evolved into what is now called operetta (or little opera), which rose in the second
half of the century as Italian opera buffa declined. Three composers stand out: in France,
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880: Orpheus in the Underworld, 1874)), in Germany,
Johann Strauss, the younger (1825-1899: Der Fledermaus, 1874), and in England, Arthur
Sullivan (1842-1900), especially in his collaborations with W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911).

Serious opera (opera seria) also followed divergent paths based on national traditions,
although the influence of literary works by Shakespeare, Goethe and Sir Walter Scott
crossed all boundaries. Opera seria continued in Italy with Rossini (Guglielmo Tell,
1829), Donizetti (Lucia da Lammermoor, 1835, based on Sir Walter Scott) and Vincenzo
Bellini (1801-1835: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, 1830). In France, grand opera flourished
in the hands of Hector Berlioz (1803-1869: Les Troyens, 1863), Georges Bizet (1838­
1875: Carmen, 1875) and Charles Gounod (1818-1893: Faust, 1859; Roméo et Juliette,
1867). In Germany, a national opera based on folk tales and legends grew up through
the efforts of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826: Der Freischütz, 1821) and Jakob (later
Giacomo) Meyerbeer (1791-1864), who was largely responsible for the fusion of the
three national, European operatic styles: his first three operas were written for
Germany (1812-1814), then from 1817 to 1824 he composed Italian opera for Milan and
Venice, and from 1831 to 1865 he wrote French grand opera for Paris. The two titans of
serious opera by the second half of the century, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), were indebted to Meyerbeer’s work and followed his
lead in their own unique ways.
 2

Wagner (1813-1883)

Early influences:

Literary: Shakespeare and Goethe:

1828 (aet: 15) wrote a tragedy based on King Lear and Hamlet

1830 (17) 7 compositions based on Faust

1834 (21) Das Liebesverbot (based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure)

Musical:

1829 (16) Beethoven’s opera Fidelio

1830 (17) wrote a piano reduction of Beethoven’s 9th symphony

1834 (21) Mozart’s Don Giovanni

1838 (25) Mozart’s 40th Symphony

Early period (1833-1842)

includes years in Paris (1839-1842); influence of Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique;

Romeo et Juliette); threatened with prison on account of his debts

The Flying Dutchman (begun 1840; premiered 1843)

2nd period (1843-1849) Dresden; Conductor of the Royal Opera; insurrectionary

outbreaks in Paris 1848 heralded as a model by middle-class German liberals; Wagner

backed the revolutionaries and was forced to flee to Switzerland with the help of Liszt

Lohengrin (begun 1845; premiered 1850)

3rd period (1849-1863) Zurich exile; patronage of Otto Wesendonk, whose wife Mathilde

became a love interest; lull in composition; theoretical works (The Artwork of the Future,

1849; Opera and Drama, 1851); beginning of Ring of the Niebelung (libretto published

1853); interruption of composition of Ring to compose Tristan und Isolde (begun 1854;

completed 1859; premiered 1865)

4th period (1864-1877) Munich; establishment of Bayreuth (1872); premiere of Ring

(1876)

last period (1878-1883)

Parsifal (premiered 1882)

first marriage: 1836 (23) to Minna Planner (d. 1866)

second: to Cosima, the daughter of Liszt and Countess Marie d’Agoult (see image in

Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 236; and discussion, p. 263); Cosima had been previously the wife

of Hans von Bülow, conductor and supporter of Wagner, who conducted the first staged

performance of Tristan in 1865. Cosima bore Wagner two children out of wedlock; after

receiving a divorce from von Bülow, Wagner and Cosima married in 1870.

Wagner was demanding and difficult in his professional life; he placed his own needs and

desires above friendship and patronage (as seen in his love life); and he remains

permanently scarred by his anti-semitic attacks on Jewish composers Mendelssohn,

Meyerbeer, and Halevy, each of whom had been an important musical influence and two
of whom, Meyerbeer and Halevy, had personally assisted Wagner in his career. His
writings were taken up by the Nazis in the 20th century, and his music was made a
musical symbol for their political party. Wagner, more than any other composer perhaps,
raises the issue of whether a person can be separated from his or her work. Nevertheless,
Wagner’s importance can be gauged by the fact that almost everyone holds an opinion
about his music, whether they like it or not and even whether they know it or not.
Wagner’s music is without question among the most important in the history of Western
composition. Happily, Tristan und Isolde raises fewer of these questions than some of
Wagner’s other operas.

Tristan und Isolde (1854-1865)

Ancient Celtic legend
first written down in the 12th century
1854—first ideas
1856—first sketches
1857—completed the text
1858-59—composition
1860—prelude performed
1865—first performed; conducted by von Bülow
the opera commemorates and celebrates Wagner’s love affair (probably never
consummated) with Mathilde Wesendonk, the wife of his most supportive patron; it was
ultimately conducted by von Bülow, the husband of the woman he would steal away and
marry, who was Liszt’s daughter; Tristan has strong musical ties to “Die Lorelei” a song
by Liszt and Nirwana, a symphonic poem by von Bülow
there is a strong (and clearly intended) relation to Romeo and Juliet; forbidden love; the
importance of magic potions on which the plot hinges; and the uniting of the lovers in
death.
The opera tells of the Irish maiden Isolde who is betrothed to Morold, her kinsman. He is
killed in battle in Cornwall by Tristan, who, mortally injured himself, disguises himself
and seeks out Isolde to cure him with her medicinal arts. Although Isolde recognizes
him, she spares and saves his life, as her pity and love have been aroused. Tristan,
returning in health to Cornwall, has offered to claim Isolde as a bride for his uncle, King
Mark. The opera opens on board ship as Isolde is being transported with her maid,
Brangäne, from Ireland to Cornwall.
Isolde’s anger about Tristan’s treachery is exacerbated by rude songs about Irish maidens
sung by the sailors, and she is distraught at the thought of being forced into a loveless
marriage. Brangäne, who had not been aware that Tristan is the same person she watched
Isolde nurse back to health, thinks to mollify her mistress by reminding her that she can
bind King Mark to her with the love potion. However, this serves only to remind Isolde
of the death potion, and she resolves to kill herself and Tristan. Brangäne, in horror,
 4

substitutes the love potion, which Tristan and Isolde drink just as the ship arrives in
Cornwall and King Mark appears to claim his bride.
Act II depicts the lovers’ nighttime tryst. Heedless of Brangäne’s sung warning and of
the growing dawn, they are interrupted by the arrival of King Mark and his retinue.
Tristan is wounded by one of Mark’s courtiers, Melot.
Act III takes place at Tristan’s castle in Brittany where he lies dying and delirious. Isolde
arrives by ship just in time to have him die in her arms. King Mark’s ship, closely
following, arrives immediately after and despite his intention to allow the lovers the
freedom to be together and his pleas for calm, there is fighting in which both Melot and
Kurwenal, Tristan’s devoted servant, are killed. The opera ends with Isolde’s
transfiguration during which she sinks onto Tristan’s body and is mystically united with
him in death.

Prelude K 4:16-20
Philter Scene K 4:21-23
DVD: National Theater Munich during the Münchner Opernfestspiele, 1998: Waltraud
Meier (Isolde), Marjana Lipovsek (Brangäne), Han Wilbrink (Helmsman), Zubin Mehta,
conductor

Wagner’s use of
1. small motives, as in the miniature character pieces, spread over a huge canvas,
and with specific meaning (Leitmotiv); that is, an opera should not divide into
recitative and aria “as if it were a concert featuring self-contained musical pieces”
(Jon T. Finson, Nineteenth-Century Music: The Western Classical Tradition
[Prentice-Hall, 2002] p. 165)
2. chromaticism
3. deceptive cadences
4. rich orchestral tapestry, with “the artistic position and status equal to that of the
greatest symphonic music” (Rey M. Longyear, Nineteenth-Century Romanticism
in Music [Prentice-Hall, 1973] p. 170); “the orchestral accompaniment [should]
play an active role in the drama, [avoiding] periodic phrasing…[and containing]
its own melody composed of motivic presentiments [Leitmotiv]” (Finson, p. 166)
5. vocal sprech-gesang: “Wagner’s vocal melody [is] often just another strand in the
orchestral texture and chiefly devoted to expressing the text” (Longyear, p. 175);
“vocal lines [should] avoid virtuosic display, bel canto, and regular, repeated
phrases” (Finson, p. 166),
6. Gesamtkunstwerk (integrated unity of plot, poetry, music, scenery, costume and
action); “focus on dramatic interactions between characters rather than scenes
inserted merely to produce spectacle” (Finson, 166).
 5

Verdi (1813-1901)

1st period (1839-1849) mainly in Milan: 14 operas, many associated with the movement
toward Italian independence from Austria, France and the papacy through their political
subjects; e.g. Macbeth (1847) based on Shakespeare and dealing with political unrest in
Scotland

2nd period (1849-1857) spent a lot of time in Paris; revised I Lombardi for performance in
Paris; operas of this period (for Italy) more typically about “personal relationships
between characters (rather than on grand political conflict)” (Finson, p. 146); e.g.
Rigoletto (1851) and La traviata (1854)

3rd period (1857-1874) experimentation with French grand opera culminating in Don
Carlos (Paris, 1867); in 1860s Verdi closely associated with the movement toward
independence and unification of Italy (“Risorgimento”), for which he “served as both
champion and symbol” (Finson, p. 152); last name taken as acronym for the cry to have
their chosen monarch unite Italy under secular rule: “Vittore Emanuele, Re D’Italia”
(Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy); Victor Emmanuel became king in 1861; unification
complete in 1871; in 1874 Verdi “elected to an honorary position in the Italian senate”; in
1871, Verdi “finally succeeded in combining elements of French grand opera and
traditional Italian opera in a completely way” in Aida, “commissioned for the Cairo opera
house in celebration of the new Suez Canal” (Finson, p. 152)

4th period: (1875-1879) retirement to his farm; in 1875 his publisher Ricordi suggested an
opera based on Shakespeare’s Othello with a libretto by Arrigo Boito; Otello (1885); then
Falstaff based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor (1893).

Aida
1870 commissioned on basis of written scenario by the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette;
librettist commissioned to write the full libretto (Ghislanzoni);
Verdi and Ghislanzoni worked closely; Verdi pressuring Ghislanzoni
1871 premiere delayed by Franco-Prussian War, “the siege of Paris having trapped the
sets and costumes in the French capital” (Roger Parker, “Aida,” Grove Music
Online, ed. L. Macy); further problems with casting; premiere 24 December

Set “at the time of the Pharoahs,” the opera takes place during hostilities between Egypt
and Ethiopia. Young “Radames is appointed to command the Egyptian armies.
Loved by the Pharoah’s daughter Amneris, he himself is in love with Aida,
Amneris’s Ethiopian slave, captured during a previous campaign.” It is unknown
that Aida is daughter to the King of Ethiopia, who himself is captured by
Radames in the current campaign. Meeting with his daughter, the king “bullies
her into persuading Radames to betray an important military secret.” Learning of
this Amneris betrays Radames, with the intent of saving him if he will pledge his
love to her. Only after he refuses to be false to Aida and is condemned to die by
entombment, does Amneris realize too late what she has done. All her efforts at
this point to have him pardoned fail. In the last scene, a spectacular, specified
 6

vertically split stage shows Radames entombed below with the priests intoning
above; Aida has crept into the tomb unobserved; Radames is at first horrified, but
Aida envisions the angel of death approaching in “radiance.” Aida sings her
farewell to earthly sorrows, seeing the heavens open to eternal day; Radames
repeats this with interjections by Aida; finally they sing it together as above them
Amneris in a monotone prays for their souls to rest in peace. The duet melody,
taken over by the violins, implies their death and ascendance (compare to the end
of Dido’s “When I am laid in earth,” where the repeating bass ascends to the
highest register in the violins and descends the full scale after Dido’s death)

Final scene K 4:12-15

DVD: Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1988: Aprile Millo (Aida), Plácido
Domingo (Radames), Dolora Zajick (Amneris), James Levine, conducting

As Kerman/Tomlinson illustrates, the scene begins in recitative, moves through an arioso

for Radames, followed by one for Aida, then a duet. With each segment, the
music becomes more simple and clear in organization and more lyrical as the
characters pass from reality to transcendence.
1. recitative: Radames—largely monotone (first move away from monotone when
he speaks Aida’s name)
2. recitative: Radames—more agitated; and Aida—more melodic, but note death
knell—the sound of a low-pitched tolling bell—in the orchestra
3. arioso: Radames—more tuneful but orchestra very subdued and hesitant
4. arioso: Aida—classical a a′ | b a′ | c pattern with full Romantic harmony
5. duet: Aida and Radames: aa′ | ba′ | c (x4!) (compare to In paradisum in terms of
context and repetition; compare to the end of Dido’s Lament in terms of the
orchestra taking over the melodic function after the voices cease)
21M011 (spring, 2006)
Ellen T. Harris
Lecture X

Romantic Orchestral Music

Throughout the 19th century, composers continued to write orchestral music in two
different tracks. In the first, the music evolved exclusively out of its own musical
components following the example of most symphonies by Haydn, Mozart and
Beethoven. Schubert, Schumann and Brahms are major composers in this form, referred
to as “absolute” music. This was opposed to the second track of program music, or music
composed to depict some extra-musical storyline, as exemplified by Berlioz’s Fantastic
Symphony. Of course, this is not to say that program music lacked internal musical
organization, but rather that it was harnessed to an extra-musical topic. There is, needless
to say, some blurring of these categories.

Brahms, Violin Concerto, third movement K 5:5-10

A good example of absolute music. This last movement follows a traditional, if
somewhat modified, rondo form: A B A′ C B A′′ . Further, the A theme is in written out
rounded binary form: aa | ba′ . Each return of A then presents a section of the theme
(similar to the way Bach fragments the returns of his ritornellos); the use of variation in
the returns is similar to Haydn’s process.: A′ = aa′′ and A′′ = ba′′′ . The lack of a return
after C is the only oddity.

Mahler, Symphony No. 1, third movement K 5:11-18

This movement, the third of five in the symphony, falls somewhere between absolute and
program music. Kerman/Tomlinson refers to its form as a type of minuet/trio (with two
trios). In this interpretation the funeral march = the minuet (here a march instead), and
the trios are Kerman/Tomlinson’s Section 2 (dance-band) and Section 3 (song). Indeed,
Section 2 falls into a repeated binary form (written out): ab ab′ . However, this analysis
seems to overlook the return of the march at 4:12; at least, this return is not identified
with a “section” number. I think, rather, that this movement can be considered a rondo
form: A B A′ C A′′ . We will come back to this movement later.

Chaikovsky, Overture-Fantasy, Romeo and Juliet K 4:24-25

This self-contained piece in one movement is an excellent example of program music; it
is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, unlike many programmatic
pieces that fall into free forms dependent on the story line, Chaikovsky manages to tell
the story within the confines of sonata form.

Pyotr Ilyich Chaikovsky (1840-1893), like Wagner, was strongly influenced by Mozart’s
Don Giovanni, Italian opera, Berlioz (orchestration and narrative form), Chopin (freedom
of form), and Liszt (power of the large-scale, less specific narration)

Chaikovsky met Berlioz in 1867.

Chaikovsky wrote symphonies and many operas; he is particularly famous for his ballets
(The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty) that tell stories in free, narrative form.

Chaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet

1869: first version
1870 (2nd version)
1880 (3rd version)

basic story line:

Romeo (Montague)
Juliet (Capulet)
secret wedding
Mercutio killed by Tybalt (Romeo tries to prevent)
Romeo kills Tybalt
Romeo exiled
wedding night
Juliet told to marry Paris
Friar provides a sleeping potion to Juliet that mimics death
in the tombs, Romeo kills Paris, takes poison
Juliet, waking to find Romeo dead, kills herself with his knife

Kerman/Tomlinson states that “Chaikovsky followed the outlines of the original play
only in a very general way,” but I would suggest that the connection is stronger than that.

The overture-fantasy, in sonata form, opens with a slow introduction based on a modal
hymn theme representing Friar Lawrence and giving the whole story a more magical,
mystical cast (much like Tristan und Isolde).

The exposition opens with the “vendetta theme” depicting the fighting between the young
Montagues and Capulets by the use of contrapuntal (fugal) techniques (compare Berlioz,
Symphonie fantastique last movement). The “sighing” theme (at 7:16) with its
alternating notes comprising a dissonant and unresolved interval represents Juliet, and
depicts her tremulous excitement at this point in the balcony scene (“Romeo, Romeo,
wherefore art thou Romeo?”). The love theme represents Romeo (compare with the idée
fixe theme of Berlioz in its yearning intervals and use of sequence).

The development plays the fighting theme against the hymn of the introduction—the
hymn here representing the wedding of Romeo and Juliet by Friar Lawrence in the face
of the opposition of their families.

The recapitulation explodes with the fighting theme, representing the deaths of Mercutio
and Tybalt, with the immediately following “sighing theme” (12:24) indicating Juliet’s
reaction to the Duke’s decision to exile Romeo as she anticipates his arrival, signaled by
the return of the love theme. The combination of these themes represents their wedding
night together, with the love theme fragmenting at Romeo’s departure (14:04). The
reintroduction of the “vendetta” theme and of conflict portrays her family’s insistence
that Juliet marry Paris; the return of the hymn theme depicts Juliet’s plea for help from
Friar Lawrence, who gives her the sleeping potion.

In the coda, Romeo arrives in Juliet’s tomb (love theme with muffled funeral drums); he
drinks poison (the theme fragments further); Juliet awakens (transformation of the
sighing theme [16:40]). In most nineteenth-century productions of the play, Juliet
awakens just before Romeo dies so that they have a moment together: this may be
represented by the “transcendent” version of the love theme (17:46).

The drum roll and final cadences may depict Juliet’s desperate suicide following
Romeo’s death, the final scene of death illustrating the ghastly result of the feud between
the families. It is striking that Chaikovsky chooses to end the movement not with the
love theme dying away, but with this sense of violence and loss, which is more
Shakespearean than Romantic.

Nationalism

Western music from its origins had a shifting geographical center. In the Middle Ages
and Renaissance, the dominant group of composers were Franco-Flemish (Perotin,
Ventadorn, Machaut, Dufay, Josquin). Toward the end of the 16th century, the center
shifted to Italian cities and courts (Palestrina, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi,
Vivaldi). Over the course of the eighteenth century, the center (with the exception of
opera) shifted to German-speaking lands (Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms). Increasingly, however, with the rise of nation
states (Italian risorgimento; see Verdi), the overthrow of absolute monarchy through
revolution (France, Russia) and the rise of constitutional monarchy in England following
the American Revolution, the arts began to take on specifically national characteristics,
using folk music (song and dance) as a basic for composition. In countries that lost
independence, such as Poland, nationalism took on perhaps even more importance than in
countries that gained it. In part, of course, this musical trend was political, and political
messages have always been important in music. For example, Mozart in his operas
depicted the strength and morality of the lower classes against the weakness and
immorality of the upper classes and Beethoven originally intended his 3rd Symphony to
honor Napoleon. Later, Verdi’s operas became important political vehicles. In part,
however, the trend by the end of the 19th century was as much (or more) toward the
portrayal a distinctive national sound through the incorporation of “characteristic” folk
idioms than the depiction of political or revolutionary subject matter. In a way,
nationalism in music blends early 19th-century politicism with the development of
“character” pieces, the “character” in this case being a national identity. Both kinds of
nationalism continued well into the 20th century. When composers adopt a national
idiom other than their own, the term “exoticism” is used (Verdi’s imitation of Egyptian
music for the hymn of the priests; another example not in your text is Ravel’s “Boléro”).

Some examples (underlined composers in your text):

Poland: Chopin (Polonaises, Mazurkas), Paderewski, Penderecki, Lutoslawski
Czech: Smetana, Dvorák, Janaçek
Hungary: Liszt, Bartók, Kodály, Ligeti
Germany: Johann Strauss (family: waltzes, Ländler), Mahler
Scandanavia: Grieg, Sibelius, Nielson, Saariaho
England: Sullivan, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten
France: Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Poulenc
Spain: Granados, de Falla
U.S: Gottschalk, John Philip Sousa, Joplin, Ives, Copland, Ellington, Gershwin, Bernstein

Perhaps the greatest national school was the Russian: Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky,
Borodin, Chaikovsky, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

Musorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition K 5:1-4

Modest Musorgsky (1839-1881) was not a trained musician. Because of his social class
(he came from a wealthy land-owning family of north central Russia), he was trained as
an officer in the Russian Imperial Guard (the Tsar’s bodyguards), but after revolutionary
changes in Russia that “caused the liquidation of his family estate,” he made his living in
a clerical job. His continuing interest in composition admitted him to a loose-knit group
(Kucha) of nationalist Russian composers organized by Balakirev that included Glinka,
Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and, briefly, Chaikovsky, among others.

As a child, his mother taught him piano. While in the guards he sought composition
lessons in musical form from Balakirev based on a study of Beethoven symphonies. In
1858, he resigned from the guards to pursue music as a gentleman. However, the
emancipation of the serfs in 1861 forced him to take civil service jobs to keep body and
soul together. He shared a room with the composer Rimsky-Korsakov.

Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) is based on paintings by the architect Victor Hartmann.

Musorgsky had met Hartmann in 1870, and they had become close friends. When
Hartmann died suddenly in 1873, Musorgsky grieved deeply, and an exhibition of
Hartmann’s “characteristic” paintings in 1874 prompted this musical cycle. Influenced
by the work of Schumann (compare Carnaval) and Liszt, Pictures is a cycle of piano
miniatures tied together by the “Promenade” from room to room of the museum.

Hartmann believed that Russian architecture should draw its inspiration from folk
designs; Musorgsky’s Pictures follows this nationalistic goal.

Rimsky-Korsakov edited the score for publication. Maurice Ravel orchestrated it in

1922. In the list of contents below, the paintings are indicated by italic. The original
piano version follows from the tradition of Schumann’s Carnaval in its serial depictions
creating a set of miniature character pieces. (Notes based in part on Jon W. Finson,
Nineteenth-Century Music: The Western Classical Tradition [Prentice-Hall, 2002], pp.
231-241).
Kerman/Tomlinson includes four movements in Ravel’s orchestration:

1. Promenade (groupings of five and six with a pentatonic melody, based on Russian
pentasyllabic verse and folk melody)
2. Gnomus (nutcracker: lurching rhythms, dissonant harmony)
3. Promenade
16. The Great Gate of Kiev (chorale-like setting, including Promenade theme and Russian
folk song)

Listening to the original piano version is highly recommended: Musorgsky, Pictures at

an Exhibition, Anatol Ugorski, piano (Deutsche Grammophon, 1992).

[In a recent semester the piano version was played in class by Joey Zhou ’07 (EECS).]

Mahler, Symphony No. 1, third movement—again K 5:11-18

It is now possible to reconsider Mahler’s movement in light of nationalism. The
movement, like Musorgsky’s Pictures is based on a “well-known nursery picture of the
time” (Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 303); see p. 304 for the picture. Mahler bases his march on
a parody of a familiar nursery tune, “Frère Jacques,” putting it in minor at a slow tempo.
Kerman/Tomlinson writes that Mahler’s distorted marches can be traced to his
recollections of parade music at the military barracks near the home where he grew up.
The first episode, or dance band music, is based on the sound (or perhaps a specific
example) of Jewish klezmer music heard in Bohemia, a tribute, perhaps, to Mahler’s own
Jewish heritage. The second episode is based on a song about lost love. The use of pre­
existent folk-like material to conjure up the sounds of his German environment gives this
movement a significant nationalistic content. (Brahms’s use of gypsy music in his Violin
Concerto is a form of exoticism, see Kerman/Tomlinson, p. 300.)

Debussy, Nocturne No. 1, “Clouds” K 5:19-24

1. the term “nocturne” evokes a night-time scene

2. model = Chopin’s Nocturnes for piano (piano miniature)
3. Debussy’s Nocturnes, and “Clouds” in particular, influenced by the impressionist
painting of James McNeill Whistler—the third example in your syllabus of a
musical composition influenced by visual art (compare Mahler, Musorgsky).

Kerman/Tomlinson describe this piece in ternary form. In doing so, the English horn
motive is given no identity, although it is this theme that returns the most often and ends
the piece. I think it is difficult to hear this work in simple ternary form. Like clouds
themselves, it is more amorphous, moving in and out of familiar material and
fragmenting at the end. I have compared the two analyses below.
Kerman: A(a b a) B A′
Harris: a b c b a d b a d b
fragmenting

Themes a-d (Harris analysis) have distinctive characteristics: a (cloud theme; chromatic);
b (English horn; octatonic); c (rising section); d (flute; pentatonic). The use of non-tonal
scales and amorphous form give this piece its “impressionistic” quality.
Summary of Romantic era: Schubert to Debussy

Chronology

Schubert, Erlkönig (1815)

Schubert, Moments Musical (1827?)

Berlioz, Fantastic Symphony (1830)

Chopin, Nocturne (1831)

Robert Schumann, Carnaval (1833-35)

Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe (1840)

Clara Schumann, Der Mond kommt still gegangen (1843)

Wagner, Tristan und Isolde (1859)

Chaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy (1869; revised 1880)

Verdi, Aida (1871)

Musorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition [for piano] (1874)

--orchestrated by Ravel (1922)

Brahms, Violin Concerto (1878)
Mahler, Symphony No. 1 (1888)
Debussy, Nocturne (1899)

Miniatures/Character pieces Program music based on narrative stories

Schubert Berlioz

Schumann(s) Chaikovsky

Chopin

Program music based on paintings

Orchestral movements
Mussorgsky
Berlioz (symphony)
Mahler
Chaikovsky (symphonic poem)
Debussy
(Mussorgsky)

Brahms (concerto)
Self-depiction
Mahler (symphony)
Berlioz
Debussy (symphonic poem)
Robert Schumann
(Wagner)
“Absolute” music
(Chopin Ballade) Opera
Brahms Wagner
Verdi
Nationalistic
Mahler Exotic
(Schubert) Verdi
Mussorgsky Brahms
21M011 (spring, 2006)
Ellen T. Harris
Lecture XI

European 20th-century music

Twentieth Century

Literature and poetry: freed from rigid structure: James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, e. e.

cummings; symbolist poets (Mallarmé, Maeterlinck), Brecht, Sylvia Plath

Visual Arts: movement from representation to abstraction: impressionism, expressionism,

cubism, etc.; Kandinsky, Picasso, Braque, Mondrian, Matisse, Munch, Brancusi, Klee,

Dali,

Sculpture at MIT includes: Alexander Calder (The Big Sail by the Green Building),

Henry Moore (Three piece reclining figure, draped in Killian Court) and many others

Architecture: Louis Sullivan, Antonio Gaudi, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright,

Alvar Aalto (Baker Dormitory), Eliel Saarinen (MIT Chapel), Eero Saarinen (Kresge), I.

M. Pei (Wiesner Building), Frank Gehry (Stata Center)

Science, engineering and industrialization: travel (car, air); communication (telephone,

fax, computer) )—affecting sense of time; space exploration—affecting sense of time and
space; entertainment (movies, film, television, video, DVD; atomic power and weaponry;
Kerman rightly emphasizes the centrality of Einstein, Darwin, and Freud

[impact of technology on the arts; recording industry on music composition]

Politics: Russian Revolution (1917); Totalitarianism; WWI; “the” depression; Nazi

Germany; WWII; Communism; Soviet Union; Korean War; Viet Nam War; fall of Soviet
communism (1989)

Style characteristics:

Timbre: new emphasis on individual instrumental colors (Stravinsky, Webern); new

sounds from “old” instruments (Crumb); recorded sound, musique concrète (Varese);
electronic (created) sound, synthesizers; electronic (altered) sound, tape especially;
aleatoric (chance) music (Cage); computer music
Harmony: freeing from major/minor harmony; “new” scales: pentatonic: Musorgsky,
Debussy; octatonic: Debussy, Stravinsky; whole-tone: Debussy; “emancipation of the
dissonance”: atonality, serialism (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern)—leading to mid-century
efforts to serialize (strictly control intellectually) all aspects of music, in many respects a
retreat from freedom, an attempt to gain control following WWII, and its opposite:
aleatoric (or chance) music (see under timbre)
Rhythm: mechanistic rhythms; influence of jazz; rhythm and rhythmic structure as
organizing principle, deliberately related in some cases to the driving rhythms of the
Baroque era
Melody: fragmented (atomized) in stark contrast to the extended surging melodies of the
19th century, but compare to the motivic structure of Haydn and Beethoven
Texture: mostly contrapuntal, both imitative (Copland, Bartok, Reich) and, especially in
serialism, non-imitative; replacement of voice leading with sound blocks or clusters
(Ligeti)
Form: variation principle (Berg, Copland, Reich, Bernstein, Ellington), and think of
serialism as a kind of variation, too, even though it’s not meant to be heard that way;
through-composition; use of sound or rhythm as organizing principle instead of form

Key terms: nationalism, exoticism, impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism

Stravinsky, Rite of Spring (10’ 41”) 1913 K 5:25-31

Kerman/Tomlinson calls this piece “tough, precise, barbaric,” “abstract,” and “utterly

unemotional. ”As opposed to the opulent Russian ballets of Chaikovsky which preceded

it, or even Stravinsky’s own Firebird, written only three years previous and depicting a

romantic fairy tale about a magical firebird, The Rite of Spring “boldly and brutally

depicted the fertility cults of prehistoric Slavic tribes.” At its premiere riots broke out

due to the brutality of the story, the violence of the music, and the modern choreography

which eschewed traditional ballet (en pointe) for tribal circle dancing and stomping. The

brutality of the music, choreography and story represent a form of expressionism.

The score of The Rite of Spring:

Harmony: “grindingly dissonant”

Rhythm: “dazzling and unpredictable”; “exhilarating” syncopation

Meter: “heavy, exciting”

Melody: “obsessive” fragmented, folk melodies; melodic ostinati; “primitive rhythmic

and sexual energy, rather than picture-postcard charm”

Dynamic: “enormously loud”

Texture: [homophonic] pounding

Timbre: huge orchestra, lots of percussion; extreme use of solo instruments for color (and

intensity): opening bassoon solo in impossibly high register, use of E-flat clarinet

(compare Berlioz), folksong #1 for bassoons and contrabassoons, #2 for French horn,

flutes, #3 for trumpets, #4 for piccolos (compare Debussy who also identifies his themes

with instruments: a = clarinets and bassoons, b = English horn, d = flute and harp)

Ballet as “total work of art”:

impressario: Sergei Diaghilev (Ballets Russe in Paris), who commissioned and produced

many of Stravinsky’s works, as well as works by Debussy, Ravel and others

choreographers: Stravinsky first worked with the choreographer Mikhail Fokine, who

said of traditional ballet that it “lacked its most essential element: presentation to the

spectator of an artistically created image.” Fokine, following the operatic imperatives of

Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk argued that all aspects of a ballet (its scenario, mime,

dancing, lighting, costume, stage design, and music—should be integrated into a unified
dramatic image) a “total work of art” (Craig Wright and Bryan Simms, Music in Western
Civilization, p. 604). When Fokine dropped out of the Rite of Spring project, he was
replaced as choreographer by the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.
costumes and scenery: Nicholas Roerich

Use of folk history, folk music= nationalism

Dissonance tempered by the underlying rhythmic propulsion

continual change of meter and offbeat accents (syncopation) while maintaining regularity
of the beat

(Tape of Boston PBS TV (WGBH) broadcast of recreation of original choreography by

Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer)

Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire (3’ 18”) 1912

Sprechstimme
macabre, dangerous—consider how Don Giovanni or the Erlking would sound in
Sprechstimme, extreme emotional depiction = expressionism
individual instrumental sound
“Night” K 5:32
--‘sinister giant black butterflies’ block out the sun
lowest range (piano, bass clarinet, cello)
downward motion, suffocating
“passacaglia” –ostinato (similar to Schumann’s cipher in Carnaval—using intervals
based on E-flat, C, B, or in German: eS C H); soprano sings the ostinato on
“vershwiegen” (not quite correctly)
“Moonfleck” K 5:33
high range (piano, piccolo, clarinet, violin, cello)
skittery motives, obsessive
fugues and canons—“lacework of sounds”

Berg, Wozzeck (1923) K 5:34-38

Opera based on play by Georg Büchner (1813-1837), who after beginning studies in
medicine became involved in the revolutionary politics of Germany. He wrote a
pamphlet advocating the right of the peasants and the overthrow of the German princely
states, the distribution of which led to a series of arrests. Büchner tried to warn his
friends, but many were imprisoned, and Büchner was forced to flee into France (compare
Wagner in 1850). The play in 24 scenes in no particular order was discovered after his
death from typhoid at the age of 23.

The play tells “the tragic story of Wozzeck, a downtrodden German soldier, imposed
upon by all and respected by few, the object of contempt of his captain, [an experimental
subject of the regimental doctor], scorned by his mistress as she has an affair with a
handsome drum major, Wozzeck seeks vengeance and stabs Marie to death near a pond
into which his weapon falls. In trying to retrieve it, he is drowned” (summary from the
MIT Barton catalogue!)

“Büchner’s play was inspired by the real life story of Johann Christian Woyzeck, who
was beheaded in Leipzig in 1824 for the murder of his mistress. Prior to his execution,
Woyzeck was interviewed by a doctor to determine whether he could be held responsible
for his actions. In his writings, the doctor concluded that Woyzeck was ‘of sound mind
and that any aberrations were due to his physical constitution and moral degeneration’.”
(Program book, Woyzeck, The Gate Theatre, London, 2004)

Comparison to Berlioz Symphonie fantastique is instructive: both are brutal, but where
the Berlioz is based on fantasy, Wozzeck is based in fact; Berlioz is heavily invested in,
and softened by, emotion, whereas Berg presents a realistic, brutal depiction. Like
Mahler, Berg makes use of “ambient music” (Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of
Western Music, vol 4 [New York, 2005], p. 508): folksongs, marches, waltzes; like Ives
(to be studied next week), these are reflected through a dissonant and, in Berg’s case,
atonal mirror. But what can be difficult or impossible to accept in the concert hall (for
some people, Ives) becomes immensely powerful when tied to a dramatic presentation
(think Stravinsky or, in general, film music).

Unlike the narrative structures that are dependent on the dramatic flow for their form
(Berlioz, Schubert’s Erlking, Stravinsky, even Debussy to a point), Wozzeck is tightly
organized by formal structures, communicating a sense of constriction and paralleling the
absolute rigidity experienced by Wozzeck. “Thus the five scenes of Act 1, an exposition
that introduces the five main characters in turn and delineates Wozzeck’s relationship to
them, are designated as a series of five character-pieces; Act 2, the opera’s dramatic
development, is a symphony in five movements, while the five scenes and final orchestral
interlude of Act 3 (‘catastrophe and epilogue’) are a sequence of six inventions on single
musical ideas” (Andrew Clements, “Wozzeck,” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy).
The use of such traditional structures is a form of neo-classicism.

Act I:
i. Captain: suite (prelude, pavane, gigue, gavotte, air, prelude [backwards])
ii. Wozzeck: rhapsody
iii. Marie: military march and lullaby
iv. Doctor: passacaglia
v. Drum Major: rondo
Act II: 5-movement symphony, in Berg’s words:
i. “sonata,” in which Marie, preening herself after her night with the Drum
Major, nevertheless accepts money from Wozzeck to care for their child, and
experiences a moment of bad conscience
ii. “fantasia and fugue,” in which the Captain and the Doctor, taunting Wozzeck,
plant the first inkling in his mind that Marie has been unfaithful
iii. “largo,” in which Wozzeck confronts Marie, who is cold and defiant
iv. “scherzo,” in which Wozzeck sees Marie dancing in the arms of the Drum
Major
 v. “introduction and rondo,” in which the Drum Major beats Wozzeck and gloats
over him
Act III (Kerman excerpt in box; in class we watched to the end of the opera):
i. invention on a theme=six variations and a fugue (Marie reads from the Bible
and repents)
ii. invention on a note=the murder (the note B held out on a bass pedal, sung by
Wozzeck to the word “nothing” in response to Marie asking what is bothering
him, screamed by Marie as Wozzeck plunges the knife into her throat, a final
set of unison B’s played by the orchestra in a deafening crescendo)
iii. invention on a rhythm=Wozzeck’s mounting fear and guilt (after killing
Marie, Wozzeck has returned to the tavern where he had seen her dancing
with the Drum Major. The rhythm is first heard in the bass drum at the outset
of the scene and serves as the rhythmic ostinato of the scene. This rhythm
underlies the disjointed barroom piano rag played on “an out-of-tune upright
piano on stage,” Margaret’s song, and the dialogue itself, but it appears in
many different tempos and meters. Like all the forms in Berg’s opera, it is not
necessarily meant to be “heard” but rather experienced as a kind of
claustrophobic oppression or inexorable fate.
iv. Two related inventions
a. invention on a chord=Wozzeck’s drowning (Wozzeck returns to the pond
where he killed Marie to find the knife; he thinks himself covered in blood
and senses everything turning blood red: the moon, the pond water. He
sings in Sprechstimme, which you have already heard in Schoenberg’s
Pierrot lunaire songs, and which is undoubtedly related, especially
because of the monologue on the moon; like Pierrot, Wozzeck is
hallucinating and mad at this point. His primary enemies, the doctor and
the captain, scurry by without helping; it is striking that they speak and do
not sing.
b. invention on a key=orchestral elegy on Wozzeck’s death (the most
romantic and emotional moment in the opera, as the six-note chord
resolves unambiguously into D minor, implying that Wozzeck only finds
resolution in death)
v. invention on an eighth-note motion=coda during which Wozzeck and Marie’s
uncomprehending, young son is cruelly taunted by older children who have
found Marie’s body.

DVD: Berg, Wozzeck, Wiener Staatsoper, Claudio Abbado, conductor (Image

Entertainment, [2001], 1987)

Bartok, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (6’ 59”) 1936, first movement
K 6:1-7
A symphony in four movements; Kerman/Tomlinson gives the second movement, which
is in sonata form. Like Stravinsky and Berg, Bartok, in reaction to the time, wrote music
that was brutal and dissonant: Kerman/Tomlinson mentions the Allegro barbaro (1911);
also the opera Bluebeard’s Castle, composed in 1911 and first performed in 1918, where
Bluebeard’s new bride demands the keys to the seven doors in his castle, which
symbolically represents his mind; sequentially she finds in the first six a torture chamber,

armory, jewel house, gardens, Bluebeard’s domain, and a lake of tears, all of which is

seeped in blood. When she opens the eighth, she sees Bluebeard’s previous wives, who

have been murdered, step out, and she ultimately, having opened the door, must go with

them back into that chamber. As Bartok wrote in 1919 to his wife about his balletic

pantomime, The Miraculous Mandarin: “I've also been thinking about the Mandarin; if it

works out, then it will be a fiendish piece of music. At the beginning - just as a short

introduction before the curtain rises - there will be a frightful noise, strident clashes,

horns hooting: I shall lead the gentle listener down to the apache den from the bustling

streets of a city,’ where the city is “a symbol of the modern world and its destruction of

human feelings, a society in decay.”

However, Bartok was always fascinated by the folk music of his homeland of Hungary,

and this nationalism often takes the edge off of even his most dissonant and

expressionistic works. In 1934 Bartok achieved a full-time position as an

ethnomusicologist at the Budapest Academy of Science, where from 1934 to 1940 he

worked with his compatriot Kodály to create an encyclopedia of Hungarian folk song.

His music from this period is increasingly inflected by it.

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936), like Berg’s Wozzeck, is infused with

neo-classicism in its use of classical forms. Although the unusual timbre, complicated

rhythms and dissonant harmonies are clearly 20th century, the form of the work follows a

variation of the four-movement symphonic pattern:

first movement, fugue;

second, sonata form;

third, arch or bridge (ABCBA);

fourth, rondo.

The clarity of the sonata form in the second movement is most similar to that of the first

movement of Mozart’s 40th Symphony, but with strikingly different content, most closely

related to Stravinsky. Sometimes bitingly dissonant but always rhythmically energized,

the melodic and modal aspects (as well as the rhythms) relate strongly to Hungarian folk

music, just as these same aspects of the Rite of Spring relate to Russian folk music.

Some common features of 20th-century music

Each era we have studied has focused on specific elements of music: the Middle Ages on
melody; the Renaissance on polyphonic textures; the Baroque and Classical eras on the
development of independent formal structures; the Romantic era on extended harmony.
The focus of the Twentieth century was on sound and rhythm as independent attributes of
music and as organizing principles.

sonority rhythm
(instrumental timbre) (ostinato)
Debussy Stravinsky
Stravinsky Schoenberg
Bartok Bartok
Webern Berg
Crumb Reich
Varése

(Sprechstimme and other

vocal innovations) (ragtime/jazz elements) (blues/jazz)
Schoenberg [Stravinsky] Thomas/Wallace
Berg Berg Ellington
Ligeti Ives Parker
Saariaho Gershwin Davis
Ravel
(new scales)
Bernstein
Debussy

Schoenberg
(folk melodies)
Berg
Stravinsky
Bartok
(use of chant)
Ives
Ligeti
Copland
Crumb (compare Berlioz)

Reich

21M011 (spring, 2006)

Ellen T. Harris
Lecture XII

American Modernism

A truly distinctive American voice in classical music only began to arise at the end of the
nineteenth century in conjunction with the movement toward nationalism. Charles Ives
(b. 1874) is as avant-garde, if not more so, as any composer we have studied. His
experimental and anti-traditional tendencies were furthered in the work of Varèse (b.
1883) and Cage (b. 1912). At the same time, his attachment to the incorporation of
American folk tunes, dances and hymns found resonance in the music of Copland (b.
1900). American jazz began to develop around the same time as nationalism (beginning
with ragtime [Scott Joplin (b. 1868)] and continuing with contributions from some of the
greats represented in Kerman: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles
Davis). Jazz had a huge impact on classical music in Europe and America. Gershwin (b.
1898) and Bernstein (b. 1918) were both strongly influenced by jazz. Bernstein also wrote
music that carried political and social critiques (West Side Story is an example). Crumb
(b. 1929) expands the sound structures of music to create sound images, some of which
(like Black Angels) are highly politicized. Reich (b. 1936) deliberately reduces his
musical materials, using simple melodic material and repeated rhythmic motives
(minimalism), creating a kind of hypnotic sensation. (Minimalistic operas by Philip Glass
and John Adams have continued to explore political themes.)

Ives, The Rockstrewn Hills (1909) K 4:36-37

This movement from Ives’s 2nd Orchestral Set falls into a kind-of rondo form, where
fragments of recognizable tunes (dance, cakewalk, march) are rejected until the hymn tune
comes in. The fragmentation is reminiscent of the Funeral March from Mahler’s
Symphony No. 1, 3rd movement. Mahler provides a narrative: first one hears the funeral
march (“Frère Jacques” in minor); this fades into a section with fragments of dance
phrases (from the Jewish klezmer tradition), which seem to be memories of happy
moments with the deceased; the funeral march cuts back in briefly, leading to a real song
of mourning; finally the funeral march resumes. (Mahler and Ives were not far apart in
age; they were born respectively in 1860 and 1874.) Ives’s fragmentation is less nostalgic
than Mahler’s and more dismissive, moving through various types of popular music until
accepting the hymn tune. In its rejection of motives, the Ives movement is more like the
last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, where the cellos and basses (in effect)
call for music, but angrily reject fragmented reprises of the first three movements in turn.
Finally, they accept the “Ode to Joy” (hymn/chorale), which then becomes the basis of an
extensive set of variations.

Copland, Appalachian Spring (concert suite [1945] based on the ballet) K6:8-11
Appalachian Spring tells the story of a pioneer wedding. The characters/dancers include
the bride (danced by Graham), her mother, the groom, the preacher, and four young
women of the congregation. The ballet depicts the intricate relations of the bride to her
mother, peers and husband-to-be before, during and after the wedding. At the end the
preacher directs the mother and young women to leave and he follows them out, as the
bride timorously but expectantly joins her husband. Copland’s music represents a young,
optimistic America. It is imbued with qualities of openness (coupled with geographical
spaciousness), energy, simplicity and spirituality.

The concert suite based on the ballet Appalachian Spring follows a similar narrative
progression. (1) An amorphous, tentative opening leads to (2) a love song (with the same
opening phrase as the popular song “When I fall in love, it will be forever”) with square
dance, to (3) hoedown, and (4) a revivalist sermon. The climax of the suite is (5) the set
of variations on the Shaker hymn (“Simple Gifts”) (in the ballet the beginning variations
occur in the middle of the drama and represent the wedding itself; the culminating
variation comes back at the end). The instrumentation is also different. The ballet is
scored for 13 instruments and has a chamber quality. The suite is for full orchestra, and
the set of variations is based on instrumental changes of timbre with the theme played in
its entirety in different keys and different tempos. The theme is first stated in the clarinet.
Variation 1 is played by oboe. Variation 2 begins with the cellos, but ultimately all the
strings enter in a fugal texture. Variation 3 is for trumpet. Variation 4 culminates the set
with full orchestra. The suite ends by fading back into (6) the love song and opening
music.

The ballet was choreographed and danced by Martha Graham in “modern dance.” Like
Stravinsky’s ballets for the Ballet Russes (Russian Ballet), Graham’s choreography was
unconventional. The choreography for the Rite was created to imitate native (and naïve)
circle dancing; with its knock-kneed, pigeon-toed jumping, it was the antithesis of
classical ballet. However, like classical ballet, the choreography mimed the action.
Graham’s choreography was less determinedly anti-traditional in its movements, but much
more so in its significant rejection of mime. Rather than depicting the narrative outlines
of the story, Graham’s choreography depicts the emotion and inner turmoil of the events.
Graham stated of her work, "I wanted to begin not with characters or ideas, but with
movements . . .I wanted significant movement. I did not want it to be beautiful or fluid. I
wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning, with excitement and surge."

As a teacher, Graham trained and inspired generations of fine dancers and choreographers.
Her pupils included such greats as Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Merce
Cunningham, and countless other performers, actors, and dancers.

DVD: Martha Graham in Performance (Kultur, 2002)

Bernstein, West Side Story (1957) K 6:36-37

Bernstein’s West Side Story marked a new approach to musical comedy. The story, based
on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is powerfully dramatic; the score is not simply a
sequence of songs set within a spoken dialogue but has an orchestral and motivic
continuity derived from Wagner and Berg with brilliant lyrics by Steven Sondheim; and
instead of having dance “numbers,” the dance element was essential, narrative and
balletic. The dazzling choreography was by Jerome Robbins (b. 1918), whose legacy in
Musical Theater equals that in classical music through the New York City Ballet and
Ballet Theater. (A number of musical comedies before West Side Story might be singled
out as predecessors or models for Bernstein, among them Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
[1935] and Carousel [1945] by Rogers and Hammerstein with choreography by Agnes De
Mille). Robbins and Bernstein first worked together in 1944 on the short ballet Fancy
Free.

The story takes place in New York City. Competing street gangs, the lower West Side
Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, replace the warring families (the Capulets and
Montagues) of Shakespeare’s play, thus changing the story from the effects of an older
generation’s bitter enmity on their children to the horrible results of gang warfare.

One important aspect of the orchestral score is its motivic continuity. The gangs and their
girlfriends come together at the “dance at the gym.” After a hapless social worker tries
unsuccessfully to get the groups to mix by initiating a circle dance (based on a
cakewalk—see Ives), the kids break into a hot mambo. When Tony (a Jet) and Maria
(sister of a leader of the Sharks) see one another, everything else fades and a quiet (but
very controlled) cha-cha (a Cuban dance popularized at that time) begins. The melody
uses a sequence of intervals (a tritone—“the devil in music”—resolving up a half step and
returning to the first note) that becomes the basis of a series of movements within the
musical. The same intervals are used for Tony’s song of love, “Maria,” which is logically
based on the music of their meeting, which leads into their duet “Tonight.” In the
Broadway show, the dance number “Cool,” where Riff (the leader of the Jets) tries to get
the gang to cool down and act “cool” before a planned rumble (gang fight), follows
immediately (in the movie it is moved to the second act, after Riff is killed, which
damages the dramatic and motivic connections). It, too, is based on the “cha-cha” and
“Maria” motive, entwining the hatred between the gangs with the love of Tony and Maria.
(The hatred and love are also interwoven when Tony and Maria’s “Tonight” is sung
simultaneously with the gangs singing “We’re gonna rumble tonight.”)
Note: Kerman/Tomlinson state that the recording they provide is from the soundtrack of
the 1961 movie (p. 407); however, their recording is the original Broadway cast, which is
preferable in any event, for the reasons given above.

The fugue that follows “Cool” is then based on a theme that relates to the intervals that
begin the duet “There’s a place for us” for Tony and Maria. The duet uses a large and
yearning dissonant interval (minor seventh) on the words “there’s a” and resolves it
appropriately on “place.” In the fugue the “resolution” is instead “ominous snap” (as
Kerman/Tomlinson puts it).

The motive relationships in West Side Story can be compared to Berg’s Wozzeck, where
there are sets of variations on various kinds of material (inventions on a note, rhythm,
chord, theme). It is also possible to see the succession of dances (cakewalk, mambo, cha­
cha) leading to a set of variations (cha-cha, Maria, Cool) as similar to Copland in its
narrative structure. The fugue is accompanied by a jazz beat and big band sound
(Bernstein was very influenced by jazz); the use of fugue to depict the anger and
emotional turmoil of the Jets can be related to the use of fugue in Chaikovsky (also based
on Romeo and Juliet) and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, V “Dream of a Witches
Sabbath.”
DVD: West Side Story (MGM Home Entertainment, [2003], 1961)—video of the movie

George Crumb, Black Angels, for Electric String Quartet (1970) K 6:19-22
“a strikingly dramatic, surreal allegory of the Vietnam War” (Richard Steinitz, “Crumb,
George” Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy)

1. “new sounds”:
1. electric (amplified) instruments, use of gongs, speaking…
2. playing techniques: col legno, playing on the bridge, above the bridge, harmonics,
playing on the fingerboard below the left hand, using thimbles for trilling
2. exoticism: imagery of Asian music through
1. pentatonic melodies,
2. evocation of bells and wood flute
3. neoclassicism
1. suite-like construction
2. borrowing from “Dies Irae” chant (compare Berlioz) and Saint-Saens’s Danse
macabre
4. social/political statement (compare Berg--not to mention Mozart, who aims at class
structure, or Beethoven, who praises individual liberty)
5. “night music” like Bartok, Strings, Percussion and Celesta, mvt. 3, or opening of
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring

DVD: Kronos on Stage (Image Entertainment, 2002)

Steve Reich, Tehillim (1981) K 6:26-30

Minimalism represents a sharp break with the complexities of expressionism at the
beginning of the 20th century and of a type of intensely contrapuntal, difficult and atonal
music prevalent at mid-century. “Minimalism” is not simple in construction—indeed it is
quite complex, but it uses deliberately restricted and simple materials which are repeated
and manipulated over a very long time span. Reich and fellow minimalist John Adams
have explored political and social themes in their operas; Adams’s operas have been based
strikingly on topics of the very recent past: Nixon in China (1987) and The Death of
Klinghoffer (1991).

Reich’s music developed out of his manipulation of taped music and speech where
identical or similar material is made to move in and out of synchrony, what Reich called
“phasing.” He describes his musical mentors as including Perotin, Bach and Stravinsky.
Typically, Reich’s music consists of “a repeating figure, to which other figures are added
one by one, each figure, including the first, subject to gradual alteration, so that within a
context of constant recycling there is constant change” (Paul Griffiths, “Reich, Steve,”
Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy).

“Reich's work with Ghanaian and Balinese musicians had caused him to think about what
tradition he belonged to, and the result was a period of study in 1976–7 of Hebrew, of the
Torah and of cantillation, for which he went to Israel to hear singers from different eastern
Sephardic communities. Out of this finally came Tehillim (1981), a setting of psalm verses
– his first work since the early tape pieces to incorporate words. What he had heard in
Israel went into the background, against which he wrote melodies that give his
characteristic regular pulses, ambivalent meters and repetitions a quite original freshness
and bounce. Generally the three rhythmic layers comprise a quick one of percussive
pulsation and a slow one of wind-string harmony, with an intermediate level of vocal
activity, sprung against the pulse and the harmony” (Paul Griffiths, “Reich, Steve,” Grove
Music Online, ed. L. Macy).

The excerpt in Kerman consists of the fourth and final section of a longer piece. It is
shaped as a free theme and variation movement. The theme falls into the pattern abcc′. It
is then heard (1) in 2-part canon, (2) 4-part canon, (3) 2 voices with clarinets and drums
(not imitative), (4) climatic high note.
21M.011

Chronology of twentieth-century
20th-century compositions in Kerman
composers studied in Kerman:

1909 Ives, The Rockstrewn Hills

Schoenberg (1874-1951)
1912 Schoenberg, Pierrot lunaire
Ives (1874-1954)
1913 Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
Ravel (1875-1937)
Webern, Five Orchestral Pieces
---------------------
Bartok (1881-1945)
1923 Berg, Wozzeck
Stravinsky (1882-1971)
1926 Gershwin, Prelude No. 1
Webern (1883-1945)
1927 Sippie Wallace (performer), “If
Varese (1883-1965)
you ever been down”
Berg (1885-1935)

1931 Ravel, Piano Concerto in G

Armstrong (ca. 1898-1971)
1936 Bartok, Music for Strings,
Gershwin (1898-1937)
Percussion and Celesta
Ellington (1899-1974)
---------------------
Copland (1900-1990)
1940 Ellington, Conga Brava

1945 Copland, Appalachian Spring

Bernstein (1918-1990)
1948 Parker, Out of Nowhere

Parker (1920-1955)

Ligeti (b. 1923)

1952 Cage, 4’ 33”

Davis (1926-1991)
1957 Bernstein, West Side Story

Crumb (b. 1929)

1958 Varese, Poème électronique

Reich (b. 1936)

1966 Ligeti, Lux aeterna

1969 Davis, Bitches Brew

Saariaho (b. 1952)

----------------------
1970 Crumb, Black Angels

1981 Reich, Tehillim

1988 Saariaho, From the Grammar
of Dreams