Midterm 2 Flashcards

Question

What are the common brass instruments of the romantic orchestra?

Answer 1

- Horn (French horn) - Trumpet - Trombone - Tuba (invented in 19th century)

Answer 2

Timpani (expanded in 19th century)

Answer 3

- ‘Social/domestic music-making’ - One of the most popular types of chamber music in the late 18th century (and beyond) were string quartets - Many of Haydn’s string quartets were intended for amateur performance - String quartets were a genre common in ‘social music-making’

Answer 4

- AKA functional tonality, the Major/Minor tonality, tonal music - System of major and minor keys (and related scales) that was the foundation of music theory and practice in the Western world from ~1600 - 1900 - Hierarchical system that emphasizes certain pitches and chords (simultaneous combinations of pitches) in a key so that some pitches and chords sound more stable (consonant) than others - Within this system, every possible chord in any given key has a functional relationship to the other chords in that key - This musical-theoretical system still serves as the basis for most of the music (‘art’ and ‘popular’ music) that's created today - Our modern systems of harmony differ greatly from the classic version due to increased use of chromaticism

Answer 5

- Limited collection of 7 pitches organized around a central pitch (tonic) - Hierarchical network of interval relationships in which certain pitches and chords (simultaneous pitches in combination) are emphasized more than others to create a sense of motion (toward or away from stability) in music

Answer 6

1. A key limits the number of pitches used in a piece of music from 12 (the entire chromatic scale -> all the pitches in one octave) to 7 that collectively have a specific “intervallic content” (a network of interval relationships) 2. Music that's composed “within a key” is music in which the pitches have been consciously arranged in a hierarchical manner that emphasizes the tonic pitch more than others, creating the aural impression that this “reference” pitch is the most restful and stable pitch in the music

Answer 7

- Major key is a group of 7 different pitches that features an interval pattern arranged in ascending order, starting on the tonic - Ex: C-major scale = step step 1⁄2-step step step step 1⁄2 step

Answer 8

- Minor key is a group of 7 different pitches that features an interval pattern when arranged in ascending order, starting on tonic - Ex: C-minor scale = step 1⁄2-step step step 1⁄2-step step step

Answer 9

- Series of pitches moving exclusively in half steps, thereby including all 12 pitches in the octave - Doesn't define a key - It isn't limited -> contains all of the pitches in an octave

Answer 10

- AKA chromaticism - Use of chords and pitches that don't function normally within the diatonic tonal system of major and minor keys - Dissonances that result from using pitches that aren't in the key - Use of chromatic harmony creates a heightened emotional or evocative effect and loosens listeners' aural sense of key and tonic - Chopin’s works exemplify the romantic approach to chromatic harmony as an expressive device - Wagner’s music pushed chromatic harmony to its uttermost limits - Beethoven's late works make increasing use of chromatic harmony, occasionally baffling contemporary audiences and critics with strong dissonances

Answer 11

- The central pitch that the limited collection of 7 pitches (key) is organized around - This tonic pitch functions in a manner analogous to the pitch known as the “final” in earlier modal music * Most important pitch in any key (pitch that's most stable and consonant) * Pitch that gives its name to a key and its related scale * Pitch that's the “root” of the tonic chord (consisting of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th pitches of the key’s scale)

Answer 12

* A tonic triad is the 3-note chord that contains the tonic, the 3rd (mediant), and the 5th (dominant) pitches of any major or minor scale * AKA an “I chord” in major and “i chord” in minor (pronounced “one chord” for both), because the root (bottom note) of the chord is tonic

Answer 13

* 5th note of a major or minor scale (beginning on tonic and ascending) -> the pitch that is a “perfect 5th” (proper term for that interval) above tonic * 2nd most important pitch in a key, since dominant often precedes tonic in music, especially at cadences * Most important pitch for aurally defining where the tonic is -> when a piece of music reaches the dominant, people will ‘hear’ where the tonic is before they actually hear it, creating a sense of arrival when it does occur * Strongest cadence in music: when the dominant is followed by the tonic -> often happens at the end of a piece of classical music (and many other times within the piece -> ex: at the end of musical phrases, to mark large sectional divisions in a work’s form, etc.)

Answer 14

* 3-note chord that has the dominant, the 7th (leading tone), and the 2nd pitches (supertonic) of the scale * AKA a V-chord (a “five chord”)

Answer 15

- 1804-1875 - French composer, pianist, teacher, and scholar - Showed artistic and musical talent at a very early age - By mid-adolescence she was a pianist of professional caliber, an exceptional theory student, and a promising composer - Trained in composition and orchestration with Anton Reicha at the Paris Conservatory starting in 1821 - Was taught privately since women were forbidden to enroll in traditional composition classes at the time - Her earliest published works for piano appeared between 1825 and 1839 - In 1845 the Paris Conservatoire adopted Farrenc's 30 Etudes as required study in all piano classes - Appointed Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire in 1842 -> only woman musician at the Conservatoire in the 19th century to hold a permanent chair of this rank and importance - Her excellence and influence as a teacher were demonstrated by the high proportion of her pupils who won competitions and went on to professional careers - Farrenc was paid less than her male colleagues at the Conservatoire for nearly a decade - After the premiere of her Nonet, op 38, in which violinist Joseph Joachim took part, she started receiving equal pay

Answer 16

* 1840-1893 * On the international music scene, arguably the most famous and popular Russian composer of the 19th century * Studied music at the new St. Petersburg Conservatory and later served as a Professor of Music at the Moscow Conservatory * Among the great Russian composers of the 19th century, Tchaikovsky was less dedicated to promoting nationalistic music * His music often sounds characteristically ‘Russian,’ due to his use of exotic scales (modes, pentatonic scales, etc.) and subject matter * Composed several famous ballets including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker * The Nutcracker wasn't successful at its premiere in St. Petersburg in 1892 but has become a holiday favorite

Answer 17

- 1841-1904 - Considered one of the great Czech nationalist composers of the 19th century - Earned worldwide admiration and prestige for 19th-century Czech music with his symphonies, chamber music, oratorios, songs and operas - Dvořák sought to develop a musical style that was closely identified with his homeland’s aspirations for independent self-rule - 8 of Dvořák’s 9 operas have librettos in the Czech language and were intended to convey the Czech national spirit, as were many of his choral works - Dvořák never quoted actual folk melodies in his Slavonic Dances, but he evoked their style and spirit by using traditional rhythmic patterns and formal structures that were common in traditional folk dances

Answer 18

- 1867-1944 - First American woman to succeed as a composer of large-scale art music (like symphonies) - Celebrated during her lifetime as the greatest woman composer in the US - Child prodigy and exceptional pianist - First performed publicly at the age of 7 - Made her professional debut at 18 and afterwards became a frequent soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra - Usually counted among the Second New England School (group of composers working primarily in Boston) - Throughout her life, she wrote more than 150 numbered works, ranging from chamber and orchestral works to church music and songs - Her early works show the influences of German composers Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms - She added her characteristic intensity and passion - In her later years, she moved beyond the late-Romantic style, as her works became more chromatic and dissonant - She retained an intense lyricism throughout her career - Although generally considered a late-Romantic composer stylistically, some of her late works explore modernist innovations in harmony, texture, and orchestration

Answer 19

- By Amy Beach - 1894 - One of her most famous works - She subtitled it Gaelic because some of its melodies were inspired by folk songs of the Irish (ethnic group important in the history of New England)

Answer 20

- AKA transitions - Change of key within a piece of music - When a piece (or section) of music begins in one key and then changes into another key - Only the most simple pieces remain in the same key throughout - Many classical works modulate to the key of the dominant and then return to the original key (the tonic) - Large-scale works (ex: operas and the movements of Romantic symphonies) can modulate into many keys, and these patterns of modulation often define different major sections of the work’s overall form

Answer 21

- minuet / minuet & trio form (A-B-A) - scherzo / scherzo & trio form (scherzo-trio-scherzo)

Answer 22

- Elegant dance movement in triple meter (usually 3/4) popular around 1650-1800 - Dance form - Only Baroque dance that remained important in Classical instrumental music - Extremely common movement type in all Classical instrumental genres - Typically the 2nd or 3rd movement of a 4-movement symphony or string quartet that follows the “Classical model” as practiced by Mozart and Beethoven

Answer 23

- Dance form - Typically the 3rd movement of a 4-movement symphony or string quartet that follows the “Classical model” as practiced by Mozart and Beethoven

Answer 24

- The first music you hear is the ‘theme,’ which is followed by many variations on that theme - Musical forms such as this one are structured around the varied repetitions of a single melody (the ‘theme’), but these melodies often appear in key areas other than the tonic - Typically the 2nd movement of a 4-movement symphony or string quartet that follows the “Classical model” as practiced by Mozart and Beethoven - Ex: Mozart's twelve variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Answer 25

- AKA First-movement Form and Sonata-Allegro Form - Common in the first movements of instrumental genres: symphonies, string quartets, concertos, and sonatas - Thought of in its day as: 1. a structural principle capable of creating a pleasing balance and symmetry (Classical pov) and/or 2. a dramatic form, in which a conflict (large-scale dissonance) is resolved at the end (more Romantic aesthetic) - Historically, sonata form was a rounded binary form -> a 2-part form (A-B) in which the end of the movement (Part B) contains a brief reappearance of the initial music from Part A -> simplest examples of sonata forms from earlier 18th century have 2 somewhat balanced halves - Easier to think of the work as a 3-section form - Later developments, especially in the 19th century, led to an increased emphasis on the Development section until the resulting works sound more like they have 3 parts (exposition, development and recapitulation) - Unlike the classical sonata forms found in symphonies and string quartets, the sonata form in the 1st movement of a concerto doesn't repeat the exposition exactly - Typical of 19-century sonata forms, the 2 (or more) main key areas of the sonata form’s exposition might include a wide variety of themes, often more than 2, making Romantic-era sonata forms more difficult to “parse” than those of the 18th century

Answer 26

- Section of music near the end of a concerto movement (usually in 1st movement but sometimes in 3rd as well) during which the instrumental soloist plays completely alone (with no orchestral accompaniment) - Virtuosic cadenzas were usually improvised in live performances, giving the player a chance to show off their technical skill at improvisation without worrying about ‘staying with’ the orchestra - Published editions of concertos usually included a fully notated cadenza for those players (including amateurs) incapable of spontaneous improvisation

Answer 27

- Short musical motive (fragment of melody) that's repeated over and over at different pitch levels (either generally rising or lowering in pitch) - May appear anywhere in music, but are often featured in sections of music that are modulatory (key of music is changing)

Answer 28

- Classical Era works often contain lyrical or folk-like or generally brief melodies that are memorable and appeal to the wider audiences that heard the music - Typically in the slow 2nd movement of a 4-movement symphony or string quartet or in the slow 2nd movement of a 3-movement sonata or concerto that follows the “Classical model” as practiced by Mozart and Beethoven - Ex: cantabile

Answer 29

- Italian word that means “singable“ or “songlike” - In instrumental music, it's a style of melody meant to imitate the human voice - Usually homophonic - Lyrical melody

Answer 30

The main melody

Answer 31

Opus number 5

Answer 32

A skilled musician

Answer 33

- AKA art song - Plural: lieder - Genre of monody (song) composed for solo voice with piano accompaniment - Musical setting of a high-quality poem, often a poem that's already well known to the audience -> these poems were rarely written by the composer of the music - Popularity of the art song was largely due to the ubiquity of the piano in the homes of wealthier families - Prominent genre in fashionable salons - Domestic music making was common and common/generally expected that the daughters of affluent families could play the piano and/or sing - The piano in an art song is more than just accompaniment -> it's crucial to the expression and musical interpretation of the poem - Art song = composer’s reading of a poem

Answer 34

* Genre that results from the collaboration of a composer and a choreographer * Includes both the dance (choreography) and music * Proper term (genre designation) for the music alone is “ballet score” * Proper term (genre designation) for the dance alone is “choreography”

Answer 35

Proper term (genre designation) for the music alone in the ballet genre

Answer 36

Frédéric Chopin

Answer 37

- Genre for solo piano in the 19th century - One-movement miniatures for solo piano, usually brief (2-7 mins), with descriptive titles suggestive of mood, scene, type of song or dance, etc. - Model for many piano character pieces were the bel canto arias in the Italian operas of Rossini and others - Usually homophonic: lyrical melody and clear accompaniment - Have a wide variety of fanciful titles, often suggesting an improvisatory style (ex: prelude, intermezzo, and impromptu) - Other titles suggest urban or nationalistic dance types, such as waltz, mazurka, and polonaise - Character pieces, like art songs, were a prominent genre in fashionable salons - Chopin composed a lot of these

Answer 38

- étude (‘study’ -> Chopin designed these as technical studies for his piano students and as artworks worthy of concert performance. Always technically difficult pieces, exciting to hear and play) - mazurka (genre of stylized Bohemian dance, urban or nationalistic dance types) - nocturne ("night piece” -> genre that suggests a mood or scene) - polonaise (genre of stylized Bohemian dance, urban or nationalistic dance types) - prelude (suggests an improvisatory style)

Answer 39

- Concert genre - Genre of large-ensemble music in multiple movements for a featured instrumental soloist with an orchestra - The Classical models (late 18th-century form) of the concerto have 3 movements

Answer 40

Genre of large-ensemble music in multiple movements for 2 soloists plus orchestra

Answer 41

- Genre - Always a piano with a string quartet - Ensemble: piano, 1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello

Answer 42

- Romantic orchestral genre - Always programmatic - One-movement work for orchestra with a descriptive title, usually based on a sonata form design -> similar to a symphony first movement (without the other 3) - By 1800, concert overture became a stand-alone orchestral genre distinct from association with opera or the symphony - Concert overtures are almost always sonata-form movements -> contain an exposition with themes in both the tonic and secondary keys, followed by a development section, and a recapitulation that follows the sonata-form principle (both main themes return in the tonic key)

Answer 43

- German genre of opera - Light and/or comic German opera, using spoken dialogue (no recitative) along with arias, duets, choral numbers, etc - Plots are often fantastic or exotic, and common characters are often included - More like a play with music (because of the spoken dialogue) - Was very popular among and strongly associated with the German middle-class audience, but was also strongly supported by the Hapsburg Emperor Joseph II (one of Mozart’s patrons in Vienna) - Influenced by other lighter, comic genres, especially the British ballad opera, which also contained spoken dialogue and light, catchy tunes

Answer 44

- Genre - Multi-movement collection of dances written for orchestra

Answer 45

- Genre - Multi-movement collection of dances

Answer 46

- AKA tone poem - Always programmatic - Single-movement in free form (form unique to each piece), scored for orchestra, and with a descriptive title associated with some extra musical phenomenon - The free form of such works gave composers the freedom to design pieces that closely adhered to the form, content, character, etc., of the extra-musical inspiration, making this a particularly Romantic genre from the standpoint of free, individual expression - Franz Liszt (composer, piano virtuoso, and father-in-law of Richard Wagner) is credited with being the first to use the term for his orchestral works

Answer 47

Giuseppe Verdi

Answer 48

* 1803-1869 * Progressive French composer and advocate for program music * Celebrated for his colorful orchestration, use of innovative orchestral effects, and the general expansion of the orchestra to include more and more ‘colorful’ instruments * Influential music critic who published his eclectic essays in journals and books -> serving as a “taste maker” in the 19th century * Wrote the orchestration manual "Treatise on Orchestration" (1844), which was widely studied by subsequent Romantic composers, many of whom are now considered great orchestrators, like Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov and Richard Strauss * Known for his advocacy and general development of program music * Befriended Franz Liszt, piano virtuoso and fellow progressive composer, who transcribed Berlioz's entire Symphonie fantastique for piano

Answer 49

Hector Berlioz

Answer 50

- 1819-1896 - One of the most important and influential virtuoso concert pianists in the 19th century - Fine composer and leading ‘interpreter’ of the music of her husband Robert Schumann, and Beethoven, Chopin, and Johannes Brahms (a close personal friend and confidante both before and after Robert’s death) - Historically important as a “taste maker” because she had a significant role in educating and shaping the musical tastes of the public, through frequent and impressive performances - Often performed the works of earlier composers, such as J. S. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, re-introducing their works to new audiences (a force in the canonization of those composers and works) - Instrumental in shaping our present-day conception of the piano concert -> the first pianist to memorize her programs, which has become a standard practice among pianists - She composed in a variety of genres (solo piano pieces, piano concertos, chamber music of various genres, choral pieces, and art songs) but gave up composition after her husband’s death

Answer 51

- 1810-1856 - German composer and influential music critic - Widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the early Romantic era - Trained at a young age to be a concert pianist, but a permanent hand injury prevented him from fulfilling that aspiration - A “taste maker” -> he wrote for Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (The New Music Journal - most important and influential music journals of the 19th century - Schumann championed the works of many dead composers (Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert) and his contemporaries (Felix Mendelssohn, Hector Berlioz, and Chopin)

Midterm 2 Flashcards

(85 cards)