Music history 2 notes

Giovanni Batista Pergolesi (La Serva Padrona) 1733

Johann Adolf Hasse (Cleofide) 1771
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Don Giovanni) 1787
John Gay (Beggar’s opera) 1728
Jacques Rosseau (Village soothsayer) 1752
Christoph Willibald Gluck(Orfeo ed Euridice, Alceste) 1762

Lorenzzo Da Ponte (Don Giovanni)

Pietro Metastasio ( La Serva Padrona)
Jean - Jacques Rosseau (Village soothsayer)

Enlightenment, Galant Style, Empfindsamer stil style (Carl Philip Emannuel Bach)
Natural as possible, equal rights of education and knowledge. Vocally comprehensive melodies,
Da Capo Form ABA
Dal Segno form
Ritornello (recurring first form of the Aria that includes ornamentation as a form of variation)
Singspiel
Opera Reform (prioritize on the importance of the composer, more emphasis on the orchestra

Comic opera, Opera Buffa, Drame giocoso, drama commico, commedia per musica

Famous 19th century italian composers (Da Canto period) 1800 1850

19th century form in general:

Orchestral or instrumental introduction
Opening Scene (Scena featuring Prima donna usually) (Recitative)
Tempo di’ Attacco (Opening scene)
Aria in two sections (Cantabile, Cabaletta)
Tempo di mezzo middle section between arias

Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi (Later)

Bel canto style (continuing the operatic reform ideals

Prima donnas (star singer) last one to come out during final bow

Rossini
Famous for his ability to blend Opera seria and Opera comic.
Created conventions for Italian opera that would last for 50 years or so.
Bel Canto (beautifully singing, lyrical lines and effortless vocal technique
Cavatina (entrance aria of any character)
tenor de forze (tenor of force)
Rossini crescendo, slow crescendo by repetition of one phrase
Bellini
Norma and Lucia di Lammermoor
La Sonnambula (The sleepwalker)
I puritani (The puritans)

Donizeti
Lucia di Lammermoor

Usage of glass harmonica in the mad Lucia scene

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)

fifty years after Donizetti

Teatro all Scala, Milan (Verdi’s premier theatre)

Verdi is not a nationalistic composer, but he supported unification.

La traviatia
Violetta
Alfredo
Giogio Germont

Quiz 1 corrections 20/26

Why did the composer use orchestrally accompanied recitative in this scene
Switch between dry (secco) and accompagniato recitative to convey a dramatic effect.

Explain briefly what was the 1752 54 Querelle des bouffons (quarrel of the comic actors) about
A pamphlet war prompted by the arrival of an Italian touring comic opera troupe led by bambini that
led to the debate between the merits of Italian of French opera. Jean Jacques Rosseau was among
one of the supporters of Italian opera despite being French and promoted the clarity of the Italian
melodic style and recitative.

Example of reform opera

Focus on the drama and orchestra
Not focused on singers’ virtuosity, no ornamentation
Modified da capo aria form
Integrated scenes with aria, recitative and chorus

Week 7 (Midterm)
Listening and written part.

Wagner
Gesamtkunstwerk (Total artwork)
Wrote his own libretto
Heldentenor (Tenor who sings mostly Wagner songs)

Operas to study
Rienzi (1842)
Der fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman, 1843)
Tannhauser (1845) and Lohengrin (1850)
Der Ring des Nibelungen) (1848-52)
Parsifal (1882)

Leitmotivs, Leading motives (A musical theme, associates a character an event or person)

Schubert’s lieder
Lied (German for singular song) Plural = lieder. Outlet for intense person
Quintessential Romantic genre.
Schubertiads (home gatherings where Schubert lieders were performed)
Strophic (Stanza)
Das Wandern
Der Atlas

Modified Strophic.
Gretchen Und Spinnrade

Ternary form ABA or ABA’

Bar form AAB

Der Atlas

Through – composed (Each strophe has new music)

Song cycle
Developed from the lied
Lieders from a collection of poems from a single poet, should be sang by numerical order to gain full
context.
Might be orchestrated
Schubert Die Schone Mullerin
Winterreise
Dichterliebe

Mahler
Lieder eines fahrendedn Gesellen

French 19th century composers

Gabriel Faure
La bonne Chanson (the good song)
No. 6, Avant que tu ne t’en ailles (before you depart)
whole tone scale
fragmentary melodic phrases
uncertainty of tonality

Symphonies
Giovanni Batista Sammartini (Composer of the early kind of symphony)

Exposition (Often repeated)

Development
Recapitulation (2nd theme is played in tonic here)

Joseph Haydn: Symphony no. 88

2nd Movement

Theme Var 1 Var 2 Var 3 coda

A A’ A2 B A3 B’ coda
DM V V i- dm III

3rd Movement

Minuet Trio Minuet

||a: b:|| a || a : b ||a: b:|| a ||
GmI V I
Rounded binary form

Symphony by Beethoven

Eroica (3rd symphony)

Debates about two 2nd themes

Form

Exposition – 153

Development – 244 (fragments of 1st and 2nd theme)

False entrance of horn provides dominant and tonic struggle to recap 3 bars before, Recapitulation –
153
Coda – 141

Division of music direction after Beethoven 1850 to 1890

Absolute (conservative)
Brahms
Hanslick

“New German School” Programme

Liszt
Berlioz
Wagner
Anton Bruckner
Hugo Wolf
Richard Strauss

Brahms
Symphony no. 4 Final movement

1-12 exposition
13 – 15 interlude
17
(1-4) -24 – 22 – recapitulation

bariolage

Thematic development

Richard Strauss

tone poems, symphonic poems

Thematic transformation similar to Liszt
Klangfarbenmelodie (tone colour melody) = Melody is split between instruments to create colour
and texture to the melody line

Hector Berlioz
idea fixee

Igor Stravinsky
Neo tonal (Neoclassical)
Nationalism
Serialism

Quiz 2: Symphonies to listen to

Giovanni Battista Sammartini Symphony in F major, No. 32 (ca 1740)

Representation of the initial 3 movement symphonies which were fast – slow – fast.
Form is analysed by Heinrich Christoph Koch, which is later called Heinrich Koch’s first movement
form, which is only suited to symphonies before 1780

Meant for four-part string players and a harpsichord, with an orchestra of only 14 to 16 players.

Joseph Haydn Symphony no. 88 in G major, hob I:88 1787

Dubbed “Father of the symphony” for inventing the four-movement form other composers after him
adopted.
Trumpets and Timpani entered in the slow movement which is unusual for four movement
symphonies.
Ludwig Beethoven Symphony no.3 in E Flat Major: Eroica 1803

Originally meant for Napoleon until he declared himself empire, then it is currently implied that it is
meant to be the heroic journey of Beethoven overcoming his deafness.
Expanded and elongated Haydn’s sonata form, and also gave two possible 2nd themes in the
exposition section.
Cello has the opportunity to play the 1st theme of the 1st movement.
Horn has a false entry before recapitulation

Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique Op. 14: V. Ronde Du Sabbat 1830

Written when he was madly in love with Irish actress Harriet Smithson, tells a programmatic story of
his life.

Idee Fixe, fixed idea. Melody that appears in each of the five movements that transform to fit the
mood of the movement.

Johannes Brahms Symphony no. 4 in E minor, Op.98: IV. 1885

Written in the form of a Chaconne wh

ich is a late baroque form, complete with musical canons to reflect his conservative ideals.

Recalls features from Beethoven’s Eroica symphony.

Richard Strauss Fantastic variations for cello, viola and orchestra, Op. 35 Don Quixote. 1897

A Tone poem which is a single movement work that is a combination of multiple genres such as the
concerto and variations.

Many features of musically descriptive passages to illustrate the situation the duo faces ie: (falling off
a windmill represented with a descending scale ending with a loud timpani bang.

Igor Stravinsky Octet for woodwind instruments

Representation of a neoclassical work, which is a 20th century work that imitates classical features
with Stravinsky’s own additions. As well as the unusual ensemble of mostly woodwind and brass
instruments, giving the lack of string instruments a distinctive sound.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 23 in A major, K. 488

Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73

Differences from common 1st movement form

Cadenza happens before exposition

What happens in first few bars

Big announcing chords followed by cadenza

Debussy Nuages (Clouds)

Concerto

Symphonic work that maintains contrast between an orchestral ensemble and a smaller group or
solo instrument

Forms adopted by Corelli, Torelli, Vivaldi

Forms of the Ritonello form and sonata form

Vivaldi’s Ritonello form

Repeating orchestra reframe

Orchestral Episode Ritonello Episode Ritonello

Ritonello Solo
Stable key Modulates Stable Modulate Stable
\______________________________/ \___/ \____/
Exposition Development Recap

Instrumentation of early concerto

Four part strings and piano/ harpsichord.

J. Christian Bach (London Bach)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piano concerto no. 88

Beethoven
Piano Concerto no. 5

Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (1844)

Alban Berg
Violin Concerto
1930s, express feelings for the death of another Manon Gropius due to polio but passed away
himself after completing the work

Usage of a Viennese Waltz or an Austrian Landler, and a Bach chorale.

Elements mainly being whole tone scales and major and minor triads. And of 12 tone technique.
Final

Concerto
Symphony
Lieder

Research meth

Listening
Score ID
Short answers
Short Essay

1. Composer
Title
Year

Felix Mendelssohn
Violin concerto in e minor
1844
E minor
Violin Principale, recognize the melody
Exposition comes first

Brahms Symphony 4 in E flat major

1884
Key
Chaconne
Thick instrumentation

Beethoven Symphony Eroica no. 3

1803

Johann Christhian Bach

Piano Concerto in Eb major
1770
Instrument