450-Present

Middle Ages

450-1450
• Middle Ages (450-1450)
• Rome sacked by Vandals—455
• Beowulf—c. 700
• First Crusade—1066
• Black Death—1347-52
• Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales – 1387-1400
• Joan of Arc executed by English—1431
A thousand years of European history

• Early - a time of migrations, upheavals & wars

Later – a period of cultural growth
Romanesque churches & monasteries; Gothic cathedrals;
Crusades to recover the Holy City from the Muslims
• Class Distinctions
Nobility sheltered in fortified castles; knights in armor;
amused themselves with hunting, feasting & tournaments
Peasants vast majority of population; lived miserably;
subject to feudal overlords
Clergy Roman Catholic church exerted power;
monks held a virtual monopoly on learning
Ch. 1 - Music in the Middle Ages

• Church was the center of musical life

- Important musicians were priests
- Women were not allowed to sing in church,
but did make music in convents
- Only sacred music was notated

• Music primarily vocal and sacred

- Instruments not used in church
- Few medieval instruments have survived
- Music manuscripts did not indicate tempo, dynamics or rhythm
Ch. 2 - Gregorian Chant

• Official music of the Roman Catholic church

• No longer common since 2nd Vatican Council (1962-1965)
• Represents the voice of the church rather than an individual
• Monophonic melody set to Latin text
• Melodies tend to move by steps in a narrow range
• Flexible rhythm - without meter and sense of beat
• Named for Pope Gregory I (r. 590-604)
• Later the melodies were notated
• Notation developed over several centuries
The Church Modes
• Basic scales made of different whole & half-step
patterns
Ch. 3 –
Secular Music in the Middle Ages

• Composed by French nobles who were

poet-musicians
Troubadours (southern France)
Trouvères (northern France)
• Performed by jongleurs (traveling minstrels)
• Song topics: love, Crusades, dancing,
spinning songs
• Instrumental dances
Ch. 5 - Fourteenth-Century Music:
The “New Art” in Italy and France

• Secular music more important than sacred

• Changes in musical style – known as new art
ars nova (Latin)
• New music notation system evolved
• Beats could be subdivided into 2 as well
as 3
• Syncopation became important rhythmic
practice
The Renaissance

1450-1600
The Renaissance 1450-1600

• Guttenberg Bible—1456
• Columbus reaches America—1492
• Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa—c. 1503
• Michelangelo: David—1504
• Raphael: School of Athens—1505
• Martin Luther’s 95 theses—1517
• Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet—1596
The Renaissance
Rebirth of human creativity
 Time of exploration & adventure
Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and
Ferdinand Magellan
 Age of curiosity & individualism
Leonardo da Vinci
 Intellectual Movement – Humanism
Captivated by ancient Greece & Roman cultures
 Visual arts depicted realism w/ linear perspective and
illusion of space & depth
 Catholic Church far less powerful
 Education a status symbol for the aristocracy & upper
middle class
 Ch. 1 - Music in the Renaissance

• Invention of printing widened the circulation of music

• Musicians worked in churches, courts, & towns
• Church remained an important patron of music
• Church choirs grew in size (all male)
• Musical activity shifted to the courts
• Town musicians played for civic processions, weddings
• Musicians enjoyed higher status & pay
• Composers sought credit for their work
• Italy became leading music center
Characteristics of Renaissance Music
Words and Music
• Vocal music more important than instrumental
• Word painting
• Wide range of emotion w/o extreme contrasts
Texture
• Polyphonic
• Imitation among the voices
• Sounds fuller; expanded pitch range; consonant chords are favored
w/ use of triads
Rhythm and Melody
• Rhythm a gentle flow rather than sharply defined beat
• Melodic line has greater rhythmic independence
• Melody usually moves along a scale w/ few large leaps
Ch. 2 - Sacred Music in the Renaissance

Motet – Josquin Desprez

• Short polyphonic choral work
• Latin text usually overlaid with vernacular text
Mass – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Polyphonic choral composition of the Catholic church
• Made up of 5 sections:
• Kyrie
• Gloria
• Credo
• Sanctus
• Agnus Dei
Ch. 3 - Secular Music in the Renaissance

Vocal Music
Music was an important leisure activity
People were expected to play a musical instrument and read notation
 Madrigal
 for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love
 Combined homophonic & polyphonic textures
 Word painting & unusual harmonies
 Renaissance Lute Song
 Song for solo voice and lute (plucked string instrument)
 Popular instrument in the Renaissance home
 Homophonic texture
 Lute accompanies the vocal melody
Instrumental Music
 Still subordinate to vocal music
 Instrumentalists accompanied voices
 Harpsichord, organ, or lute
 More music written specifically for instruments
 Instrumental music intended for dancing
 Pavane or passamezzo in duple meter
 Galliard in triple meter
 Distinguished between loud & soft instruments
 Outdoor (loud): trumpet, shawm
 Indoor (soft): lute, recorder
 Focal point for music in Venice –
St. Mark’s Cathedral
 Giovanni Gabrieli and the Polychoral Motet
 Plaudite (Clap Your Hands)
 Vocal Music Guide: p. 112
Basic Set, CD 2:03
Baroque Period

1600-1750
Time Line
• Shakespeare: Hamlet-1600
• Cervantes: Don Quixote-1605
• Jamestown founded-1607
• Galileo: Earth orbits Sun-1610
• King James Bible-1611
• Newton: Principia Mathematica-1687
• Witchcraft trials in Salem, Mass.-1692
• Defoe: Robinson Crusoe-1719
• Swift: Gulliver’s Travels-1726
The Baroque Style
• Time of flamboyant lifestyle
• Baroque style “fills the space”
• Visual Art
• Implies motion

• Busy
• Architecture
• Elaborate
 Ch. 1 - Baroque Music
 Two giants of Baroque composition
 Johann Sebastian Bach (period ends w/ Bach’s death)
 George Frideric Handel
 Other noted composers
 Claudio Monteverdi
 Henry Purcell
 Arcangelo Corelli
 Antonio Vivaldi
 Period divided into three phases
• Early: • Middle: • Late:
1600-1640 1640-1680 1680-1750
favored homophonic major & minor dominant chord
texture scales to the tonic
• Unity of Mood
• Expresses one mood throughout piece

• Rhythm
• Rhythmic patterns are repeated throughout
• Provides compelling drive & energy
• Melody
• Opening melody heard again and again
• Continuous expanding of melodic sequence

• Dynamics
• Volumes are constant with abrupt changes – terraced
dynamics
Characteristics of Baroque Music
• Texture
• Late Baroque mostly polyphonic
• Extensive use of imitation

• Chords and the Basso Continuo

• Chords meshed with the melodic line
• Bass part served as foundation of the harmony

• Basso Continuo: accompaniment played by keyboard instrument

following numbers which specifies the chords – similar to modern
jazz & pop “fake book” notation

• Words and Music

• Text painting/word painting continues
• Words frequently emphasized by extension through many rapid
notes
Baroque Forms
• Instrumental music frequently made up of
movements
Movement: a piece that sounds complete in itself,
but is part of a larger composition

• Performed with pause between movements

• Unity of mood within individual movements
• Movements often contrast with each other
• Common basic forms:
• Ternary • ABA

• Binary • AB • ABB
• AA B • AA B B
Ch. 2 - Music in Baroque Society
• Music written to order
• New music, not old-fashioned, was desired

• Courts:
• Music indicated affluence

• Court Music Director

• Good prestige, pay, and other benefits
• Still considered a skilled servant
• Some aristocrats were musicians

• Church music was very elaborate

• Most people heard music only in church

• Some, though few, public opera houses

• Music careers taught by apprenticeship

• Orphanages taught music as a trade
Ch. 3 - The Concerto Grosso
and Ritornello Form
Concerto Grosso
• For small group of soloists and orchestra
• Multi-movement work
• Usually 3 movements
• Fast
• Slow (usually quieter)
• Fast (sometimes dance-like)
Ritornello
• Frequently used in 1st & last movements of
concerto grosso

• Theme repeatedly presented in fragments

• Contrast between solo sections and tutti

Ch. 4 - The Fugue
• Cornerstone of Baroque music
• Polyphonic composition based on one main
theme
• Vocal or instrumental
• Subject
• Main theme
• Presented initially in imitation
• Each voice enters after previous voice
has completed presenting the subject
Ch. 5 - The Elements of Opera
• Drama sung to orchestral accompaniment
• Text in opera is called libretto
• Music is written by a composer
• Libretto is written by a librettist

• Opera can be serious, comic, or both

• Two primary types of solo songs:
• Recitative: presents plot material
• Aria: expresses emotion—usually a “show-off” vehicle for the
singer

• Other types: duet, trio, quartet, quintet, etc.

• Three or more singers make up an ensemble
• Chorus: groups of actors playing crowd parts
• The prompter—gives cues to singers
• The orchestra pit – sunken area in front of
stage
• Prelude or overture - instrumentals that open
opera acts

• Modern questions concerning text in opera

• Translation of text and effects upon text painting

• Supertitles-projection of text above the stage

Ch. 6 - Opera in the Baroque Era
• Result of musical discussions of the
Camerata in Florence
• 1st known opera: Euridice (Peri-1600)
• Orfeo (Monteverdi-1607)
• 1st large scale (great) opera
• Opera composed for court ceremonies
• Display of magnificence and grandeur
• Patrons compared to ancient heroes
• 1st public opera house 1637 in Venice
• Rise of virtuoso singer—chief was castrato
• Secco vs accompanied recitative
Ch. 7 - Claudio Monteverdi
• Italian, early Baroque composer

• Wrote first great operatic work, Orfeo

• Worked last 30 years at St. Mark’s in

Venice
• Composed both sacred music and
secular music for the aristocracy

• Only 3 of his 12 operas still exist

Ch. 8 - Henry Purcell
• English composer (1659-1695)
• Highly regarded, held court positions
• Buried beneath the organ in
Westminster Abbey
• Dido and Aeneas

Ground Bass
• Repeated musical idea in bass
• Variation form—melodies above change
• Also called basso ostinato
Ch. 9 - The Baroque Sonata
• Instrumental work
• Multi-movement piece for one to eight
instruments
• Trio sonata
• Three melodic lines: basso continuo and two above
• Written as three parts, but performed by four players

• Sonata da chiesa—church sonata

(dignified)
• Sonata du camera—chamber sonata
(more dance-like, intended for court
performance)
Ch. 10 - Arcangelo Corelli
Trio Sonata in A Minor, Op.3 No. 10
by Arcangelo Corelli
For 2 violins and basso continuo
Basic Set, CD 2:23 and 2:24 - p. 146

Note: Polyphonic texture

Multi movement work
Contrast between movements
Ch. 11 - Antonio Vivaldi
• Late Baroque Italian composer
• Il prete rosso (the red priest)
• Taught music at girls orphanage in
Venice
• Girls performed at mass hidden behind
screen
• Wrote sacred and secular vocal and
instrumental music
• Famous as a virtuoso violinist &
composer
Ch. 12 - Johann Sebastian Bach
• German, late Baroque composer
• Organist and violinist
• Deeply religious (Lutheran)
• Worked in sacred and secular positions
• Weimar/Cothen/Leipzig

• Large family
• Known during lifetime as keyboardist
• Wrote in every form except opera
• Recognized for technical mastery
• Highpoint of polyphony combined w/ harmony
• All music majors study Bach’s compositions
• He is the model for learning to write music
Ch. 13 - The Baroque Suite
• Instrumental, multi-movement work
• Written for listening, but based upon dance
• Movements usually in binary form—AABB
• Often began with a non-dance overture
• French overture—2 sections
• 1st slow, dignified
• 2nd faster, often beginning as a fugue

• Forerunner of forms used in the next period

Ch. 14 - The Chorale and
Church Cantata
• Lutheran church service was social event
of the week
• Lasted 4 hours with 1 hour sermon
• Music was major part of worship service
• Congregation participated in singing chorales

• Chorale: hymn tune w/ German text

• Cantata
• Multi-movement church work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra
• Vernacular religious text
• Resembled opera in its use of choruses, recitatives, arias, and
duets
Ch. 15 - The Oratorio
• Like opera:
• Large-scale work for chorus, soloists,
and orchestra
• Contains arias, recitatives, ensembles
• Unlike opera:
• No acting, scenery, or costumes
• Based upon biblical stories
• Not intended for religious services
• Commonly performed today in both
churches and concert halls
Ch. 16 - George Frederic Handel
• Born in Germany—same year as Bach
• Not from musical family
• Father wanted him to be a lawyer
• Studied music in Germany, then to Italy
to study opera, finally England to work
• Became England’s most important
composer
• Wrote many operas in London
• Had own opera company
• Worked as composer, performer, & impresario

• Buried in Westminster Abbey

1750-1820
The Classical Period
Time Line
• Seven Years’ War-1756-1763
• Louis XVI in France-1774-1792
• Am. Declaration of Independence-1776
• French Revolution-1789
• Napoleon: first French consul-1799
• Napoleonic Wars-1803-1815
• Goethe: Faust-1808
• Austin: Pride and Prejudice-1813
The Classical Era
• Scientific advances changed world view
• Faith in the power of reason
• Undermining of traditional authority
• Social organization
• Religious establishment

• Age of Enlightenment
• Rise of the middle class worker
• Visual Art
• Moved away from ornate Baroque style
• Favored light colors, curved lines, & graceful ornaments
Ch. 1 - The Classical Style
• Transition to Period: ~1730-1770
• C.P.E. and J.C. Bach—early pioneers
• Concentrated on simplicity and clarity
• Term classical
• Greek and Roman antiquity
• Supreme accomplishment of lasting appeal
• Anything that is not rock, jazz, folk, or popular
• Music and visual arts stress balance and
clarity of structure
• Three main composers
• Joseph Haydn
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ludwig van Beethoven
Characteristics of the Classical Style
• Contrast of Mood
• Contrasts both between & within movements

• Flexibility of rhythm
• Multiple rhythmic patterns for variety
• Texture
• Mostly homophonic, but with frequent shifts
• Melody
• Tuneful, easy to remember
• Composers borrowed popular tunes
• Dynamics
• Emotions expressed in shades of dynamics
• Use of gradual dynamic changes
• Related to development of the piano – soft/loud
• End of the Basso Continuo
The Classical Orchestra
• Increase in size of orchestra – standard
group of four sections
• Strings: 1st & 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double bass
• Woodwinds: @2 – flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons
• Brass: @2 – French horns, trumpets
• Percussion – 2 timpani

• Composers exploited individual tone colors

• Each section had a special role
• Strings most important w/ violins taking the melody
• Woodwinds added contrasting tone
• Horns & trumpets brought power to loud passages
• Timpani used for rhythmic bite and emphasis
Classical Forms
• Instrumental works consist of several
movements that contrast in tempo & character
• 1st—Fast • 3rd—Dance-related
• 2nd—Slow • 4th—Fast

• The movements might use different forms

• ABA
• Theme and Variations
• Sonata
• Minuet and Trio
• Rondo
• Movements often contrast themes vividly
• By movement’s end, musical tensions are
resolved
Ch. 2 - Composer, Patron, and Public
in the Classical Period
• Changing society affected musicians
• Haydn: worked 30 years for aristocratic family
• Mozart: began at court, broke away, died broke
• Beethoven: successful as independent musician

• Prospering middle class wanted aristocratic

pleasures (theatre, literature, music)
• Public, ticket buying concerts became common

• Demand for printed music, instruments &

music lessons
• Composers wrote playable music that would sell

• Serious compositions flavored by folk and

popular music
Vienna
• Became the musical capital of Europe
• Musicians came to study and seek
recognition
• Aristocrats wintering there would bring
their orchestras
• Musicians, including Mozart and
Beethoven, frequently played gigs in
wealthy homes
• Many musicians also worked in
serenading street bands
Ch. 3 - Sonata Form
• Also called sonata-allegro form
• Refers to form of a single movement
• Ternary form (A B A)—3 main sections
• Exposition
• Initial statement of 1st and 2nd themes
• Entire section usually repeated

• Development
• Tension building section
• Themes broken into fragments—motives

• Recapitulation
• Resolution of tension
• Re-statement of 1st and 2nd themes

• Often concludes with a “tag” or tail—Coda

Ch. 4 - Theme and Variations

• Single part form—no large contrasting

“B” section
• (A A’ A” A”’…)
• Basic idea presented and then
repeated over and over
• Each repeat alters (varies) the musical
idea
• Each variation is about the same length
as the original idea
• Variations may alter melody, harmony,
rhythm, dynamics, timbre, or all of these
Ch. 5 - Minuet and Trio
• Ternary form based upon stately court
dance of the Baroque
• Each ternary part is itself ternary:
Minuet Trio Minuet
A B A
||: a :||: b a’ :||: c :||: d c’ :|| a b a’ ||

• Return of the Minuet is usually marked

on the music as da capo
Ch. 6 - Rondo
• Features a tuneful main theme which
returns over and over
• Lively, pleasing and simple to remember
• Main theme alternates with other
contrasting sections
• Common rondo patterns:
• A B A C A (small rondo)
• A B A C A B A (large rondo)
• Note the similarity to modern pop-music form
Ch. 7 - The Classical Symphony
• Extended, ambitious composition
lasting for 20-45 minutes
• Multi-movement instrumental work
• 1st Fast—frequently Sonata form
• 2nd Slow—often Sonata form, sometimes
Theme and Variations
• 3rd Dance—usually Minuet and Trio or
scherzo (fast, dance-like) form
• 4th Fast—frequently Sonata or Rondo form
• Themes in one movement rarely
appear in another movement
Ch. 8 - The Classical Concerto
• Work for instrumental soloist and
orchestra lasting 20-45 minutes
• Usually three movements:
• Fast—Slow—Fast (no Minuet movement)
• Combines soloist’s virtuosity with power
and timbres of orchestra
• Break near end of 1st and sometimes
last movement called cadenza
• Showpiece for the soloist (orchestra waits)
• Originally improvised, Classical
composers seldom notated cadenzas
Ch. 9 - Classical Chamber Music
• Designed for the intimate setting of a
room, rather than concert hall
• Small group of 4-9 instrumentalists
• Each player shares thematic material

• Most important setting is string quartet

• 2 violins, viola, cello
• Four movements
• Usually Fast—Slow—Dance—Fast

• Other popular settings:

• Sonata for violin and piano
• Piano trio (violin, cello, and piano)
• String quintet (2 violins, 2 violas, cello)
Ch. 10 - Joseph Haydn
• 1732-1809—early and mid-Classical
Period Austrian composer (long life)
• Talent recognized early
• Age 8—sent to Vienna to be a choir boy
• Dismissed from school—voice changed
• Worked in Vienna and continued studies
• Esterhazy’s composer for 30 years
• Employment status as skilled servant
• Became famous in Europe at this time
• Moved to Vienna at Prince’s death
• Made concert trip to London
• Prolific composer
Ch. 11 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• 1756-1791 (mid-Classical composer)
• Austrian
• Son of a professional musician
• Leopold Mozart, violin, worked for Archbishop of Salzburg

• Child prodigy
• At 25—freelance musician in Vienna
• Partly due to winning the Emperor’s favor
• Initially successful, then novelty wore off
• Final piece was a Requiem that was
finished by one of his students
• Very prolific; note short life span
• Wrote in all Classical genres
Ch. 12 - Ludwig van Beethoven
• 1770-1827—late Classical, German
• Son of a professional musician
• Father, Johann, was a singer & abusive alcoholic
• Forced the boy to study music (wanted $)

• Financially successful as freelance musician

• Believed in period’s societal changes
• Wrote final pieces while totally deaf
• Died in Vienna
• 20,000 people attended funeral

• Wrote in all Classical genres

• 9 symphonies • 5 concertos
• 16 string quartets • 1 opera

• Many other sonatas and other works

The Romantic Period

1820-1900
The Romantic Period
Time Line
• Monroe Doctrine—1823
• Hugo: Hunchback of Notre Dame—1831
• Dickens: Oliver Twist—1837
• Dumas: The Three Musketeers—1844
• Poe: The Raven—1845
• Darwin: Origin of Species—1859
• American Civil War—1861-1865
• Twain: Huckleberry Finn—1884
• Bell invents telephone—1876
 Romanticism (1820-1900)
• Stressed emotion, imagination and
individualism
• Emotional subjectivity basis of arts

• Favorite artistic topics:

• Fantasy and the supernatural

• Middle Ages/concept of chivalry & romance
• Architecture revived Gothic elements
• Nature: as mirror of the human heart
• Period of the Industrial Revolution

• Resulted in social and economic changes

Ch. 1- Romanticism in Music
• Many important Romantic composers
• Franz Schubert • Bedřich Smetana
• Robert Schumann • Antonin Dvořák
• Clara Schumann • Peter Tchaikovsky
• Frédéric Chopin • Johannes Brahms
• Franz Liszt • Giuseppe Verdi
• Felix Mendelssohn • Giacomo Puccini
• Hector Berlioz • Richard Wagner
• Continued use of Classical period forms
• Much individual alteration and adjustment
• Greater range of tone color, dynamics, and pitch than in Classical
period

• Expanded harmony—complex chords

Characteristics of Romantic Music
Individuality of Style
• Composers want uniquely identifiable music
Expressive Aims and Subjects
• All approaches were explored:
• Flamboyance, intimacy, unpredictability,
melancholy, rapture, longing, …
• Romantic love still focus of songs & operas
• Lovers frequently depicted as unhappy and
facing overwhelming obstacles
• Dark topics draw composers
Nationalism and Exoticism
• Nationalism: music with a national identity
• Exoticism: intentionally imply foreign culture
• Frequently in operas with foreign settings
Program Music
• Association with a story/poem/idea/scene
• Understanding the music enhanced through
reading program or viewing associated work

Expressive Tone Color

• Composers tried to create unique sounds
• Blending of existing instruments
• Addition of new instruments
• Tone color important to emotional content
Colorful Harmony
• Chords built w/ notes not in traditional keys
• Harmonic instability consciously used device
Expanded Range of Dynamics, Pitch & Tempo
• Dynamics ff, pp expanded to ffff & pppp
• Extremely high and low pitches were added
• Changes in mood frequently underlined by
(sometimes subtle) shifts in tempo
Forms: Miniature and Monumental
• Some composers went on for hours
• Required hundreds of performers
• Others music lasted only a few minutes
• Written for a single instrument
• Composers wrote symphonies, sonatas,
string quartets, concertos, operas, and
many other Classically traditional works
Ch. 2 - Romantic Composers
and Their Public
• Demise of the patronage system
• Composers regarded themselves as “free spirits”
• Decline in aristocratic fortune—Napoleonic wars

• New urban classes/new musical topics

• Public was entranced by virtuosity
• Piano became a fixture in most homes
• Composers/audience: same social class
• Few composers financially successful
Ch. 3 - The Art Song
• Composition for solo voice and piano
• Accompaniment integral part of the song
• Linked to vast amount of poetry in this period
• Composers interpreted poems, translating mood,
atmosphere and imagery into music
• Mood summed up at end with piano postlude
Strophic and Through-Composed Form

• Strophic form repeats music for each verse

• Through-composed—new music each verse
• Sometimes modified strophic form used
The Song Cycle

• Group of songs unified in some manner

• Storyline or musical idea may link the songs
Ch. 4 - Franz Schubert
• Born in Vienna (1797-1828)
• Early Romantic composer

• Prodigious output

• When 18 years old wrote 143 songs

• At 19 years wrote 179 works
• Included 2 symphonies, opera & mass

Schubert’s Music
• Wrote over 600 songs
• Also symphonies, string quartets, other chamber
music, sonatas, masses, operas, & piano works
• The Unfinished Symphony: only 2 movements, not 4
Ch. 5 - Robert Schumann
• German, early to mid-Romantic (1810-1856)
• Wanted to be piano virtuoso

• Problem with hand ended his ambition

• Treatments & gadget made problem worse
• Married his piano teacher’s daughter

• Temperamentally unsuited for some of the musical positions he

attempted

• Committed to asylum where he died

Robert Schumann’s Music

• Wrote piano pieces, art songs, and later symphonies

• Piano pieces and art songs frequently in cycles

Ch. 6 - Clara Wieck Schumann
• German (1819-1896)
• Leading concert pianist

• One of 1st well-known women composers

• Married Robert Schumann

• Stopped composing after his death

• Focused on performing his works
• Pair was friends w/ Johannes Brahms

Clara Schumann’s Music

• Stopped composing at age 36

• Considered herself primarily a performer

• Wrote songs, piano pieces, a concerto…
Ch. 7 - Frédéric Chopin
• Polish born musician (1810-1849)
• Poet of the piano

• Moved to Paris at age 21 – European artistic capital

• Known for his beautiful tone, rhythmic flexibility

and extensive use of piano pedals
• Piano teacher to the daughters of the rich

• Avoided concert halls

• Wrote nocturnes, mazurkas, preludes & waltzes
Chopin’s Music
• Developed personal style at early age
• Evokes a variety of moods
• Captured the spirit of the Polish people
Ch. 8 - Franz Liszt
• Hungarian born composer (1811-1886)
• Virtuoso pianist
• Touring concert pianist until age 36

• Incredible performer and showman—”rock star”

• Retired from touring & became court conductor
and later took minor holy orders – Abbé Liszt
• Found new ways to exploit the piano

Liszt’s Music
• Extremely controversial
• Bombastic & vulgar, or the ideal music?
• Broke away from strict Classical forms

• Created symphonic poem (tone poem)

Ch. 9 - Felix Mendelssohn
• German composer (1809-1847)
• Early to mid-Romantic period

• Developed early

• Wrote symphonies, concertos, sonatas,

and other works before being teenager
• Responsible for revival of Bach’s music

• Died of a stroke while touring

Mendelssohn’s Music
• Somewhat more conservative

• Avoids emotional extremes

• Projects both elegance and balance
Ch. 10 - Program Music
• Instrumental music associated with a story,
poem, idea, or scene
• Non-program music is called absolute music
• Usually performed with written explanation of
the piece—a program
• In Romantic,usually for piano or orchestra
• Common types:
• Program symphony—multi-movement/orchestral
• Concert overture—modeled on opera overture
• Symphonic poem (or tone poem)—1 movement,
orchestral, flexible form
• Incidental music—for use before or during a play
Ch. 11 - Hector Berlioz
• French composer (1803-1869)
• Mid-Romantic Period
• Wrote unconventional music

• Passionate & unpredictable

• Won Prix de Rome for Symphonie fantastique
• Worked as music critic for support

• One of the first of the great conductors

Berlioz’s Music
• Imaginative, innovative orchestrations

• Required huge resources

• Pioneered concept of idée fixe
Ch. 12 - Nationalism in
Nineteenth-Century Music
• National identity grew during the Romantic
• Citizens, not mercenaries now fought wars
• Bonds of language, history & culture formed
• Led to unifications creating Germany and Italy

• Composers deliberately gave their works

distinctive national identity
• Use of folksongs and folkdances
• Created original melodies with folk flavor
• Wrote operas and program music inspired by
native history, legends, and landscapes
• Strongest impact in countries dominated by
music of Germany, Austria, Italy and France
Ch. 13 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Russian, Late Romantic (1840-1893)
• Studied music in Russia
• Did not start until age 21
• By age 30 had a symphony, opera, tone poem
and his1st great orchestra work
• Married, divorced two weeks later
• Supported by benefactress (patron)
• They corresponded but never met
• Traveled Europe and United States
Tchaikovsky’s Music

• Wrote symphonies, concerti, overtures,

operas, and more
• Fused Russian folk music & European style
Ch. 14 - Bedřich Smetana
The Moldau (1874)
Part of the cycle Ma Vlast (My Country)
by Bedrich Smetana
Symphonic Poem depicting the main river
that flows thorough the Bohemian (Czech)
countryside
Listening Guide: p. 311 Basic Set, CD 6:11
Brief Set, CD 4:11
Note: Program material and how composer
related it to the music
Ch. 15 - Antonin Dvořák
• Followed Smetana composing Czech
national music (1841-1904)
• As teenager, played in orchestra under
Smetana
• Got his break when Brahms heard him
• Became director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York

• Urged Americans to write nationalist music

• Wrote From the New World during 1st year
• Later returned to Prague Conservatory
Ch. 16 - Johannes Brahms
• German composer (1833-1897)
• Son of a musician (father played bass)
• At 13, studied music by day/played gigs by night
• Became close friends with the Schumanns
• Lived with Clara while Robert in asylum
• Lifelong friends with Clara, he never married
• Studied earlier composers’ works in detail
• Especially Bach, Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven
Brahms’s Music

• Considered somewhat conservative due to

his use of classical forms
• Wrote in all traditional forms except opera
Ch. 17 - Giuseppe Verdi
• Italian (1813-1901)
• Mid- and late Romantic composer
• Studied in Busseto & Milan
• Supported by patron
• Married patron’s daughter
• Known for opera
• Wrote operas with political overtones
• Nationalist, supported unification of Italy
• Critics blasted his scandalous subjects
• Seemed to condone rape, suicide, and “free love”
Verdi’s Music

• Wrote for middle-class audience who enjoyed opera

• Favorite topic: love story w/ unhappy ending
• Powerful music summons up heroes & villains
Ch. 18 - Giacomo Puccini
• Italian (1858-1924)
• Late-Romantic composer

• Known primarily for operas

• Became wealthy and world famous due to the popularity of his music

• Opera La Bohème 1st major success

• Made use of Exoticism, setting his operas in foreign places

• Short melodies, simple phrases, and realistic dialog

• Artistic style verismo (reality): “true to life”

Ch. 19 - Richard Wagner
• German (1813-1883)
• Mid to late Romantic composer
• Studied in Germany
• Later moved to Paris—did not work out
• Returned to Germany, got in trouble
• Finally settled & succeeded in Munich, Bavaria
• Lived large off of others—ran up debts
• Wrote in many styles, famous for opera
Wagner’s Music

• His works were large, full blown affairs

• No recitatives & arias—just non-stop music
• Adapted idèe fixe to leitmotif approach
• Huge orchestrations for operas
• Requires big voices to be heard
Ch. 20 - Gustav Mahler
• Austrian romantic composer (1860 – 1911)
• Grew up in small town, hearing Bohemian
peasant songs & dances
• Critics complained of his harsh dissonances
& elaborate orchestrations
• Became principal conductor of Metropolitan
Opera in New York
_________________________________________
Mahler’s Music
• Wrote symphonies & song cycles
• Used unconventional instruments: cowbells, celesta,
guitar
The Twentieth Century and
Beyond
Time Line – Twentieth Century & Beyond
• Freud: Interpretation of Dreams—1900
• Wright brothers: first powered flight—1903
• Einstein: special theory of relativity—1905
• First World War—1914-1918
• Great Depression begins—1929
• Second World War—1939-1945
• Atomic Bomb destroys Hiroshima—1945
• Korean War—1950-1953
• Crick & Watson: structure of DNA—1953
• Vietnam War—1955-1975
• President Kennedy assassinated—1963
• American astronauts land on moon—1969
• Dissolution of the Soviet Union—1991
• Terrorist attacks in the US – 2001
20th Century Developments
• Violence & progress are hallmarks
• 1st half—hardship and destruction
• Two World Wars brought terrible new weapons

• Between wars boom/bust economic cycle

• 2nd half—colonial empires dismantled

• Multiple smaller scale wars erupt worldwide

• Extended cold war between US and USSR

• Many smaller wars fueled by cold war tactics

• Unprecedented rapid economic growth
• Widespread gain in principle of equal rights
• Rapid technology & science advancement
• Sound recording, movies, radio, television, satellites, computers,
& Internet alter society
20th Century Developments
• Rapid, radical changes in the arts also occur
• Shock value becomes goal of many art forms
• Modern dance clashes with classical ballet
• Picasso and cubism present distorted views as artwork
• Kandinsky & others no longer try to represent visual world
• Expressionists—deliberate distortion/ugliness as protest
• Individual artists do both traditional & radical styles
• Summary:
• US shapes world culture, new artistic world center
• Nonwestern culture & thought affect all arts
• New technologies stimulate artists—new art forms
• Artists explore human sexuality—extremely frank
• More opportunities for women, African-American, and minority
artists/composers than ever before
• Artists express reaction to wars/massacres in art
• Since 1960’s, pop-art begins to replace elitist art
Ch. 1 - Musical Styles: 1900-1945
• First 13 years brought radical changes
• Seen as time of revolt & revolution in music
• Composers broke with tradition & rules
• Rules came to be unique to each piece
• Some reviewers said the new music had no relationship to music
at all

• 1913 performance of The Rite of Spring caused riot

• Sounds that were foreign to turn of the century ears are common
to us now

• Key, pitch center, and harmonic progression

practices of the past were mostly abandoned
• Open-minded listening, without expectations based upon previous
musical practice, provides an opportunity for musical adventure
1900-1945: An Age of Musical Diversity
• Vast range of musical styles during this time
• Intensifying of the diversity seen in Romantic

• Musical influences drawn from Asia & Africa

• Composers drawn to unconventional rhythms

• Folk music incorporated into personal styles

• American jazz also influenced composers
• For American composers, jazz was nationalistic music
• For European composers, jazz was exoticism
• Medieval, Renaissance, & Baroque music
was “re-discovered,” performed, & recorded
• Forms from earlier periods were imitated, but with 20th Century
harmonic & melodic practices

• Romantic music, especially Wagner, was seen as either a point of

departure or a style to be avoided
Characteristics of 20th Century Music
Tone Color
• Unusual playing techniques for sound effects
• Glissando, flutter tongue, col legno, extended notes

• Percussion use greatly expanded

• New instruments added/created

• Xylophone, celesta, woodblock, …

• Other “instruments:” typewriter, auto brake drum, siren

• Music not written for choirs of instruments

• Composers write for timbres, or “groups of soloists”

• Unusual groupings of instruments for small ensembles

• Orchestra scoring also reflects this trend
Characteristics of 20th Century Music
Harmony
Consonance and Dissonance
• Harmony and treatment of chords changed
• Before 1900: consonant (stable) and dissonant

• Opposite sides of the coin

• After 1900: degrees of dissonance

New chord structures

• Polychord
• Quartal and quintal harmony
• Cluster
Characteristics of 20th Century Music
Harmony
Alternatives to the Traditional Tonal System
• Composers want alternatives to major/minor
• Modes of Medieval & Renaissance were revived
• Scales from music outside western Europe utilized
• Some composers created their own scales/modes

• Another approach: use 2 or more keys at once

• Polytonality (bitonality)

• Atonality
• No central or key note, sounds just “exist” and flow

• 12 tone system
• Atonal, but with strict “rules” concerning scale use
• Serialism, an ultra strict method, develops from 12 tone sys.
Characteristics of 20th Century Music
Rhythm
• Rhythmic vocabulary expanded
• Emphasis upon irregularity and unpredictability
• Shifting meters
• Irregular meters
• Polyrhythm

Melody
• Melody no longer bound by harmony’s notes
• Major and minor keys no longer dominate
• Melody may be based upon a variety of
scales, or even all 12 tones
• Frequent wide leaps
• Rhythmically irregular
• Unbalanced phrases
Ch. 2 - Music and Musicians in Society
• Recorded & broadcast music brought concert
hall to living room, automobile, & elsewhere
• Music became part of everyday life for all classes

• Becoming popular in 1920’s, recordings allowed lesser known music

to reach broader audience

• 1930’s—radio networks formed own orchestras

• Radio brought music to the living room

• Television (popular 1950’s) brought viewer to concert hall
• Modern composers alienated audience
• Turned to old familiar music (Classical, Romantic)

• For 1st time in history, older, not new music was desired
• Recordings helped to make the modern familiar
• Women became active as composers,
musicians, and music educators
• African-American composers & performers
became more prominent
• Some governments controlled their music
• USSR demanded non-modern, accessible music
• Hitler’s Germany banned Jewish composers’ work
• Many artists & intellectuals left Europe for the US
• Working, creating, & teaching in American universities,
they enriched the culture of the US
• American jazz & popular music swept world
• American orchestras became some of world’s best

• Universities supported modern music &

composers—became music’s new patrons
Ch. 3 - Impressionism and Symbolism
• Musical outgrowth of French art and poetry
French Impressionist Painting
• Used broad brush strokes and vibrant colors
• Viewed up close, the painting appears unfinished
• Viewed from a distance it has truth
• Focused on light, color, & atmosphere

• Depicted impermanence, change, and fluidity

• A favorite subject was light reflecting on water
• Named after Monet’s Impression: Sunrise

French Symbolist Poetry

• Symbolists also broke with traditions & conventions
• Avoided hard statements—preferred to “suggest” (symbolize) their
topics

• Symbolist poetry became the basis for many Impressionist musical

works
Ch. 4 - Claude Debussy
• French Impressionist composer
• Crossed Romantic/20th Cent. (1862-1918)
• Studied in Paris and Rome
• Lived large—liked luxury, but stayed in debt
Debussy’s Music
• Attempted to capture in music what
Impressionist painters did in visual art
• Titles imply a program music type approach
• Used orchestra as pallet of sounds, not tutti
• Expanded harmonic vocabulary and practice
• Used 5-note chords instead of traditional 3
• Made use of pentatonic and whole-tone scales

• Obscured harmony, tempo, meter, & rhythm

Ch. 5 - Maurice Ravel
Listening
Bolero (1928) Listening Outline: p. 380
Basic Set, CD 7:31

Tone colors
Spanish flavor
Rhythmic repetitions
AABB
Violently dissonant ending
Ch. 6 - Neoclassicism
• Flourished 1920-1950
• Based new compositions upon devices
and forms of the Classical & Baroque
• Used earlier techniques to organize 20th
Century harmonies & rhythms (painting p. 362)
• Eschewed program music for absolute
• Preferred to write for small ensembles
• Partially due to limited resources in post-
WWII Europe
• Sounded modern, not classical
Ch. 7 - Igor Stravinsky
• Born in Russia (1882-1971)
• Studied with Rimsky-Korsakov
• Early success writing ballet music
• The Rite of Spring caused riot at premier in Paris

• Moved due to the wars

• WWI went to Switzerland, to France afterward, then to US at
onset of WWII

Stravinsky’s Music
• Vocal & instrumental—many styles & forms
• Utilized shifting and irregular meters
• Sometimes more than one meter at once

• Frequently used ostinato

Ch. 8 - Expressionism
• Attempts to explore inner feelings rather than
depict outward appearances
• Used deliberate distortions
• To assault and shock the audience
• To communicate tension and anguish

• Direct outgrowth of the work of Freud

• Rejected “conventional prettiness”
• Favored “ugly” topics such as madness and death

• Art also seen as a form of social protest

• Anguish of the poor
• Bloodshed of war
• Man’s inhumanity to man
Ch. 9 - Arnold Schoenberg
• Born in Vienna (1874-1951)
• First to completely abandon the traditional
tonal system
• Father of the 12-tone system

• When Nazis came to power he (a Jew) was

forced to leave—came to America
• Taught at UCLA until his death

Schoenberg’s Music
• Atonality
• Starting 1908, wrote music w/ no key center

• The 12-Tone System

• Gives equal importance all 12 pitches in octave
• Pitches arranged in a sequence or row (tone row)
• No pitch occurs more than once in the 12 note row in
order to equalize emphasis of pitches
Ch. 10 - Alban Berg
• Born in Vienna, 1885-1935
• Student of Schoenberg
• Wrote atonal music
• Due to ill health, did not tour or conduct
• Possibly also reason for his small output
• Most famous work is Wozzeck
• Story of a soldier who is driven to
madness by society, murders his wife, and
drowns trying to wash the blood from his
hands (Expressionist topic & music)
Ch. 11 - Anton Webern
• Born in Vienna, 1883-1945
• Schoenberg’s other famous student
• His music was ridiculed during his lifetime
• Shy family man, devoted Christian
• Shot by US soldier by mistake near end of WWII

Webern’s Music
• Expanded Schoenberg’s idea of tone color
being part of melody
• His melodies are frequently made up of several two to three note
fragments that add up to a complete whole
• Tone color replaces “tunes” in his music

• His music is almost always very short

Ch. 12 - Béla Bartók
• Hungarian, 1881-1945
• Taught piano in Hungary and wrote books for
pedagogy
• Like many other composers, fled Nazis and
came to live in the US
• Used folksongs as basis of his music
• Went to remote areas to collect/record folksongs

Bartók’s Music
• Best known for instrumental works
• Especially piano pieces & string quartets

• Compositions contain strong folk influences

• Worked within tonal center
• Harsh dissonances, polychords, tone clusters
Ch 13 - Dmitri Shostakovich
 Symphony No. 5 in D Minor
Listening Outline: p. 416 Second Movement
Basic Set, CD 8:27

Scherzo
A B A’ form
Glissandos
Ch. 14 - Charles Ives
• American, 1874-1954
• Son of a professional bandmaster (director)
• Worked as insurance agent, composed
music on the side
• 1st published own music, initially ridiculed
• Won Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for 3rd Symphony
• Wrote quite original music
Ives’s Music
• Music based upon American folk songs
• Polyrhythm, polytonality, & tone clusters
• Claimed was like 2 bands marching past each
other on a street
• Often, his music is very difficult to perform
Ch. 15 - George Gershwin
• American, 1898-1937
• Wrote popular music, musical theatre, and
serious concert music
• Frequently blended the three into a single style
• At 20 wrote Broadway musical La, La, Lucille
• Wrote Swanee, Funny Face, & Lady, Be Good
• Also, Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F, An
American in Paris, & opera Porgy and Bess
• Often co-wrote with his brother, Ira, as lyricist
• Met Berg, Ravel, and Stravinsky in Europe
• Financially successful—songs were popular
• Was friends & tennis partner w/ Schoenberg
• Died of brain tumor at age 38
Ch. 16 - William Grant Still
• American composer (1895-1978)
• 1st African-American composer to have work
performed by a major American orchestra
• Born Woodville, MS-grew up Little Rock, AR
• Worked for W. C. Handy in Memphis, TN
• Later wrote film scores in Los Angeles
• 1st African-American to conduct a major
symphony orchestra (1936)
• Also 1st to have an opera performed by a
major opera company (1949)
• Troubled Island about Haitian slave rebellion
Ch. 17 - Aaron Copland
• American, 1900-1990
• Wrote music in modern style more accessible
to audience than many other composers
• Drew from American folklore for topics
• Ballets: Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Appalachian Spring
• Lincoln Portrait, Fanfare for the Common Man
• Wrote simple, yet highly professional music
• Other contributions to American music:
• Directed composers’ groups
• Organized concerts
• Lectured, taught, & conducted
• Wrote books and articles
Ch. 18 – Albert Ginastera
• From Buenos Aires, Argentina (1916 – 1983)
• Attracted to percussive sounds
• Studied w/ Aaron Copland
• Operas included scenes of explicit sex & violence
• Don Rodrigo (1964)
• Bomarzo (1967)
• Beatrix Cenci (1971)
• Moved to Switzerland, continued to compose
__________________________________________
Ginastera’s Music
• Employs forceful rhythms
• Powerful percussions
• Dense orchestra textures
• Argentinean folk material
Ch. 19 - Musical Styles since 1945
• Many societal changes since WWII
• Instant communication has altered the world
• Constant demand for novelty
Characteristics of Music Since 1945
• Increased use of the 12-tone system
• Serialism—12-tone techniques extended
• Chance music that includes the random
• Minimalist music w/ tonality, pulse, repetition
• Deliberate quotations of earlier music in work
• Return to tonality by some composers
• Electronic music
• “Liberation of sound”
• Mixed media
• New concepts of rhythm & form
Increased Use of the 12-Tone System
• After WWII, Europeans explored 12-tone
• Nazi’s had banned music by Schoenberg & Jews
• European composers heard 12-tone as “new”
• 12-tone viewed as technique—not a style
• Pointillist approach w/ atomized melodies
• Webern’s music & style became popular
Extensions of the 12-Tone System: Serialism
• The system was used to organize rhythm,
dynamics, and tone color
• Tone row ordered relationships of pitches
• Serialism ordered other musical elements
• Result was a totally controlled, organized music
• Relationships often very difficult to perceive
Chance Music
• Opposite of serialism
• Composers choose pitches, tone colors, &
rhythms by random methods
• John Cage: 4’33”, Imaginary Landscape
• Karlheinz Stockhausen: Piano Piece No. 11

Minimalist Music
• Characteristics
• Steady pulse, clear tonality, repetition of short
melodic fragments
• Dynamics, texture, & harmony constant over time
• Emphasis on simple forms, clarity, understatement
Musical Quotation
• Represents conscious break with serialism
• Improves communication w/ audience
• Quoted material conveys symbolic meaning
• Frequently juxtaposes quoted material with
others, creating an Ives-esque sound
Return to Tonality
• Parallels quotation in implying other styles
Electronic Music
• Uses technological advances for new music
• Recording tape, synthesizers, computers
• Allows composers to skip the middle step of
performers to convey their ideas to an audience
• Provides unlimited palette of sounds/tone colors
“Liberation of Sound”
• Use of wider variety of sounds than ever
• Some sounds were previously considered noises
• Novel & unusual performance techniques are
required (screaming, tapping instrument, …)
• Use of microtones, clusters, any new sound
Mixed media
• Visual art often combined w/ music for effect
• Often intended to relax concert atmosphere
Rhythm and Form
• Some new compositions ignore rhythmic
notation & specify sound in seconds/minutes
• Traditional forms giving way to new ideas
• Some music “unfolds” w/o obvious form devices
Ch. 20 - Music since 1945:
Eight Representative Pieces
Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
Sonata II (1946-1948)
by John Cage (1912-1992)
Basic Set, CD 9:01 Brief Set, CD 5:35
Prepared piano is grand piano w/ objects
inserted between some strings
Note: Binary form—A A B B
Percussive sounds on some notes
Polyphonic