Final Listening Examples Info Flashcards
(38 cards)
String Quartet Op. 76, No. 3, (Emperor) 2nd movement
Joseph Haydn String Quartet 18th - Haydn retained old patronage system - Based on "God Keep the Emperor Franz" - Thought to be based on Croatian folk song
Symphony No. 40, 1st movement
W.A. Mozart
Symphony
18th
- Mozart liked contract system rather than patronage
-First movement is in normative sonata-allegro form
- Given the name Romantic, since it looked forward to Romantic music
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)
W.A. Mozart String serenade 18th - Contains a double bass, as it was designed to be performed outside - Originally had five movements - Contains a rocket theme.
Symphony No. 5, 1st movement
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony
19th
- Beethoven adds a surprise fourth theme in the recapitulation
-Beethoven described the motive as “fate knocking at the door;”
- 3rd mvt. Is a scherzo and trio, because Beethoven hated the aristocracy and the minuet.
Piano Concerto K. 453, 1st mvt.
W.A. Mozart
Concerto for piano
18th
- Contains notably exquisite writing for woodwinds.
- Written for his favorite student, Babette von Ployer
- Taunted his enemy, Giovanni Paisiello, by inviting him to its premier.
Trumpet Concerto, 3rd mvt.
Joseph Haydn
Concerto for trumpet
18th
- Trumpet concertos were uncommon for the period
- Trumpets were keyed, not valved at the time
- ) the concerto is in a compact three movement form.
Piano Sonata “Moonlight” 1st mvt.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Sonata
19th c.
- Not given the name “moonlight” by Beethoven
- Dedicated to a young pupil who Beethoven was enamored with
- Called a “fantasy sonata” because it broke the normal forms.
Don Giovanni, Act I, Scene 2, “Leporello’s Catalogue Aria.”
W.A. Mozart
Opera buffa, aria
18th
- Leporello is reading a catalogue of Don Giovanni’s sexual conquests
- Despite being a “Comic” opera, Don Giovanni is not overly funny, and deals with very serious themes
- Casanova was in attendance for the premier of Don Giovanni.
Magic Flute: “Papageno/Papagena”
W.A. Mozart
Singspiel, aria
18th
- Mozart wrote The Magic Flute at the same time as Requiem in D Minor, at the very end of his life
- Papageno is roughly the equivalent of the buffo character for The Magic Flute
- Papageno resolves not to kill himself only when his Papagena finally appears.
Magic Flute: Der Holle Rache (Queen of the Night Aria Two)
W.A. Mozart
Singspiel, aria
18th
- The Queen of the Night was hunting Pamina
- In Der Holle Rache, the Queen of the Night charges Pamina to kill Sarasto, who was trying to protect her
- Mozart deliberately made the aria as hard as possible to spite the soprano who claimed the aria was too easy, and not showing off her abilities.
Erlkönig (“Erlking”)
Franz Schubert
Lied
19th c.
- Erlkönig consists of four voices all sung by one performer, and thus requiring substantial vocal range.
- It tells the story of a father and son riding through the woods while the Erlkönig (often mistranslated “Elf King,” literally “Alder King”) chases after them.
- There is debate over the role of the piano in the piece, and whether it represents the hoof beats of the horse or the fluttering heartbeat of the boy.
Mazurka in B-flat Minor, Op. 24, No. 4
Frédéric Chopin
Mazurka for Solo Piano
19th
- Chopin’s music, and this mazurka, are notable for their use of rubato, or “robbed time.”
- He fled Poland for Paris as a young man, but he was still nationalistic and felt a love for his homeland, which is reflected in his Polish music like his mazurkas and polonaises
- The Mazuka is a dance originating in the Mazovia district of Poland, and normally in ternary form, although Chopin’s mazurkas tend to be longer.
The Banjo
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Piano fantasy
19th c.
- The Banjo is, unsurprisingly, meant to emulate the banjo, similarly to how Scarlatti’s Sonata K. 149 was meant to emulate the Spanish guitar.
- The banjo was widely associated with minstrel shows and was common in the folk music of the cultures Gottschalk grew up around, and was naturally familiar to him.
-As such, while self-consciously striving after high art status, they contain lots of syncopation, rhythmic variation, and can be seen as anticipating ragtime.
Totentanz
Franz Liszt
Symphonic Poem for Piano and Orchestra
19th
- The symphonic poem was an orchestral piece of music invented by Liszt. It is usually one movement and programmatic in nature.
- Totentanz is built around the lyrics and characteristic theme of the Gregorian Chant “Dies Irae,” from the Requiem Mass.
- . Liszt exhibited a fascination with death from an early age, and went back to early Christian roots in his exploration of death in this symphonic poem.
Symphonie Fantastique, mvts. 4 & 5
Hector Berlioz
Program Symphony
19th
- . The “Beloved,” the woman for whom the artist pines, is identified by the idée fixe, a short musical phrase
- In his pain over being rejected, the artist murders the Beloved, and is executed.
- He descends to hell and witnesses a Witches’ Sabbath in which the Beloved participates.
Peer Gynt Suite: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Edvard Grieg
Suite
19th
- Grieg was born in Norway and is one of few famous composers to come out of Scandinavia (although he studied music in Germany).
- the protagonist faces off against the King of the Trolls and his army of daughters, who are angry at Peer for seducing one of their sisters.
- The piece concludes with a cacophonous crash as the mountain comes down on the trolls.
Symphony No. 3 in F Major, 3rd Mvt.
Johannes Brahms
Symphony
19th c.
- Brahms was the leader of the Romantic movement in favor of “Absolute Music” (music with no program), as opposed to Liszt and the more programmatic Romantic composers.
- Brahms opens the symphony with a sonata-allegro first movement, followed by a waltz, a deviation from the typical scherzo.
- The third symphony is Brahms’ shortest and most Romantic symphonic work.
“La Donna e Mobile” from Rigoletto
Giuseppe Verdi
Opera, Aria
19th
- His middle period opera tend to be more conservative in size, but his later operas, notably Otello, Aida, and Falstaff are dramatic in scope, with Aida calling for an entire Egyptian army.
- It chronicles the attempts of Rigoletto, the jester, to project his daughter from his master and prolific womanizer, the Duke of Mantua.
- In “La Donna e Mobile” the Duke woos Maddalena, a harlot hired by Rigoletto to demonstrate the character of the Duke to Gilda, by singing about the fickleness of women.
“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre
Richard Wagner
Music Drama
19th
- Wagner’s music and his concept of the “music drama” is guided by the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, or “the total work of art.”
- Wagner’s later music dramas (notably Tristan und Isolde and Der Ring des Nibelungen) were famous for their use of leitmotif, a short musical phrase used to represent a person, place, thing, idea, theme, et cetera.
- It is centered around the gods of Norse mythology repurposed as part of a German heritage and the events surrounding the creation of the world and then its consumption by fire.
“Habenra” from Carmen
Georges Bizet
Opera
19th
- Bizet favored a style classed “exoticism,” which focused on alien cultures a far away lands, and appealed to the Romantic taste for adventure.
- Carmen tells the story of Carmen, a gypsy woman living in Seville, and Don José, a soldier who falls in love with her.
- . Enraged and ruined José tries to persuade Carmen to come with him, but when he is rebuffed, he kills her.
“Trepak” from The Nutcracker
Pytor Ilych Tchaikovsky
Ballet
19th
- Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to be popular outside of the motherland.
- The Nutcracker is not normally associated with Christmas elsewhere in the world, and initially not well received.
- “Trepak” is the Russian-themed piece from the national showcase portion of Act II of The Nutcracker, and is usually choreographed with people dressed as candy canes or in Cossack garb.
“Un Bel Di” (One Beautiful Day) from Madame Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini
Opera, Aria
20th
- Opera in the Post-Romantic era was characterized by the idea of verismo, or “truth.”
- Madame Butterfly tells the story of a geisha (roughly the equivalent of a Western courtesan) named Butterfly who falls in love and carries the child of an American sailor named Pinkerton, who returns to America.
- The work represents an attempt by a Western composer to mimic the style of a foreign culture.
Libera me, from Requiem, Op. 48
Gabriel Fauré
Requiem Mass
19th
- Fauré’s music is more restrained and meditative than his late Romantic Germany contemporaries, notably Wagner.
-Requiem masses represent almost all of the high art sacred music being composed in the Romantic era, primarily and the behest of wealthy patrons or the Catholic Church.
- The Libra me movement of Fauré’s Requiem predates the compostion as a while, and was original composed for baritone and organ.
Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun”
Claude Debussy
Symphonic Poem
19th
- Musical impressionism spawned from the visual Impressionism of Monet, Degas, and Manet and their desire to capture “impressions” of nature and everyday life.
- Debussy embraced music as a sensuous experience, and contributed to the evolving style of piano performance.
- The piece was to serve as a “backdrop” to the poem, which vaguely depicts the adventures of a faun.
