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Unit 4 - Music & Emotions (Chapter 38 (Dancing at the Keyboard: Chopin…
Unit 4 - Music & Emotions
Chapter 29
The Ultimate Instrument: Haydn and the Symphony
Franz Joseph Haydn
Choirboy at St. Stephen’s in
Vienna
Esterházy’s patronage began
1761 (29)
Born in a small Austrian village
England after prince’s death
1732-1809
Style embodies mature
Classical style
Classical composers created a dynamic style of orchestral writing in which all the instruments participated actively and each timbre could be heard.
The Early Symphony
The Classical Orchestra
Four instrument families
Woodwinds
Strings
Brass
Percussion
30-40 musical players
Grand effects
Steamroller Effect- long crescendos
Minuet- dance movement
Rocket Theme- Aggressive, Rhythmic; Quick rise from low to high
Early History of the Symphony
Symphonies began as Italian opera overtures
Three sections
Fast
Slow
Fast
Eventually separate movements
◦ Dance movement (minuet) added
The symphony: a genre designed to demonstrate the expressive capabilities of a full orchestra, arose as one of the principal instrumental traditions during the Classical era.
The symphony, which eld the central place in Classical instrumental music, had its roots in the Italian opera overture of the early eighteenth century, an orchestral piece in three sections: fast-slow-fast.
"Can you see the notes behave like waves? Up and down they go! Look, you can also see the mountains. You have to amuse yourself sometimes after being serious so long." -Joseph Haydn
Haydn’s Symphonies
Wrote over 100
London Symphonies
Last 12 (93-104)
Masterpieces in the
classical symphony style
Accents
Syncopation
Sudden crescendos
Father of the Symphony
Hayden's late works abound in expressive effects, including syncopation, sudden crescendos and accents, dramatic contrasts of soft and loud, daring modulations, and an imaginative plan in which each family of instruments plays its own part.
Listening Guide 19
Haydn: Symphony No. 100 in G Major (Military), II
One of the twelve “London” symphonies
“Military” nickname from use of Turkish percussion & trumpet fanfare
Highly imaginative, innovative
Four movements
I. Adagio-Allegro; sonata-allegro form, G major
II. Allegretto; A-B-A' for, C major
III. Moderato; minuet and trio, G major
IV. Presto; sonata-allegro form, G major
Second movement: Allegretto
Rhythm/meter
Marchlike, regular duple meter
Harmony
Change from C major to C minor, then back to C major
Melody
Simple, graceful theme, in regular phases
Texture
Homophonic
Form
Three-part form, with varied return (A-B-A')
A is in binary form
Expression
Sudden dynamic contrasts
Performing voices
Large orchestra, including woodwinds, trumpets, French horns, and many percussion instruments
Sudden change to the minor in middle section, military introduction to closing coda
Dramatic effects
Daring modulations
Trumpet fanfare
Contrasts
Turkish military music
Cymbals
Bass drum
Triangle
Bell tree
Chapter 38
Dancing at the Keyboard: Chopin and Romantic Piano Music
Historical Influences - Revolutions
Industrial Revolution
Urbanization
Free enterprise, individualism
French Revolution
Transfer of power to the middle class
Democracy
Romantic Characteristics
New forms: symphonic poem, choral
Nationalism
Forms expanded, pieces longer
Exoticism
Harmony more chromatic, dissonant, and expressive
Themes
Destiny
God and nature
Life and death
Good versus evil
Dreams and passions
Melodic lyricism, “singing” melodies
From Classicism to Romanticism
Bohemians
Eternal longing, indefinable discontent
Art to unsettle rather than soothe
Worlds of strangeness and wonder
Artist struggling against society and convention
Display of originality and self-expression
Romanticism a self-conscious break from Enlightenment ideals
Beethoven
Early decades of 1800s
The Nineteenth-Century Piano
Rise of the virtuoso pianist
Function was to dazzle audiences
Suitable for polyphonic and homophonic textures, variety of
dynamic and resonant effects
Suited to amateurs and professionals
Home and concert hall
Staple of refined education
Technical improvements
Factory-made, standardization, affordability
Metal frame, increased string tension
Improved mechanical action, extended range
The piano is central to the Western musical tradition
Lyric Piano Piece
Character Piece
Solo piano equivalent to the song
Projects melodious and dramatic moods within a compact form
Short
Sometimes fanciful titles- ex. Little Bell, Forest Murmurs
Composers
Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms
Beyond the Sonata and Concerto
études (highly virtuosic study pieces)
Character pieces
Nocturnes, preludes, and dances
Frédéric Chopin
1831 to Paris for remainder of career
Social circle of famous French composers, writers, and artists
Entire creative life revolved around the piano
Born outside Warsaw
French father, Polish mother
Originated modern piano style
“Everything must be made to sing”
1810–1849
Relationship with author George Sand
Chopin's works, central to the pianist's repertory, include four epic ballads, the thoroughly Romantic Sonatas in B-flat Minor and B minor, and two piano concertos.
Technical improvements to the nineteenth-century piano led to the development of the modern concert grand piano.
Polish composer Frédéric Chopin dedicated his entire compositional output to the piano; he is said to have originated the modern piano style.
Chopin's works include études (highly virtuosic study pieces), meditative nocturnes, preludes, and dances (including Polish mazurkas and polonaises), as well as sonatas and concertos for piano. His music calls for the use of rubato, or "robbed time."
Of all musical instruments, the piano is the most central to the Western musical tradition. The rise in popularity of the piano helped shape the musical culture of the Romantic era.
"The pianoforte is the most important of all musical instruments; its invention was to music what the invention of printing was to poetry." -George Bernard Shaw
With its ability to project melodious and dramatic moods within a compact form, the short piano piece, or character piece, was the equivalent to the song.
Listening Guide 29
Chopin: Mazurka in B-flat Minor, Op. 24, No. 4
Polish roots exhibited in his mazurkas and polonaises
A mazurka was a lively triple-meter dance with an accent on
the second or third beat of the measure
Composed in 1833
Melody
Chromatic lines, wide-ranging, disjunct
Rhythm/meter
Dancelike dotted and double-dotted rhythms
Frequent accents on third beat, later on second beat
Moderate triple meter
Harmony
Modal harmonies
Much chromaticism
Shifts between major and minor
Texture
Largely homophonic, with regular left-hand accompaniment in quarter notes
Form
A-B-A' -B-A' -C-C-D-A
Long coda
Expression
Much rubato
Many accents
Chromatic, wide-ranges
Dance-like triple meter
Chopin Polonaise Op. 53
Form: Ternary and Rondo
Wide Range of Keyboard
Dance of Polish origin
Carnival parties
1st dance at “prom”- party before exams
Trills
Heroic or Drum Polonaise
Dedicated to friend/banker: Auguste Leo
Chapter 43
Absolutely Classic: Brahms and the Nineteenth-Century Symphony
"It's not hard to compose, but it is wonderfully hard to let the superfluous notes fall under the table." -Johannes Brahms
Composers continued writing instrumental music without a program (absolute music) throughout the nineteenth century, including symphonies, concertos, and chamber music.
Romantic symphonies were characterized by lyrical themes, colorful harmonies, expanded proportions, and larger orchestras featuring new instruments.
German composer Johannes Brahms continued the Classical traditions of the Viennese masters in his four symphonies. His Third Symphony is Classical in structure but Romantic in tone.
"Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind." -Johannes Brahms
Many thought that program music, linking sound to a narrative or an image, was a step backward from the potential of music to express things beyond words. These were (and are) the proponents of absolute music: without a program, relying entirely on structures of sound for its expressive power.
In addition to new programmatic genres such as the symphonic poem and program symphony, Romantic composers continued writing in the multimovement genres established in the Classical era, which included the symphony, the concerto, and chamber music.
The Nineteenth-Century Symphony
Opportunity for individual interpretation
Programmatic
Many thought program music was a step backward from the potential of music to express things beyond words
Absolute
Proponents of absolute music relied on structures of sound for expression
Some composers continued writing in multi-movement genres of the Classical era
Form was the most important organizing element
With this genre no programmatic thought process
Moving the public
Dynamic Range Increases
Symphonic structure increasingly longer and expansive
Larger orchestras
Rise of the Conductor aka “Maestro”
Public concert hall, not palace
Rise of Virtuoso performer
Johannes Brahms
Lifelong affection for folk music
Hungarian Dacnes
Hailed by Schumann as future leader of absolute music
Remained close to the Schumann family
Born Hamburg, Germany
Began writing symphonies at age forty
1833–1897
Four symphonies, two piano concertos, a violin concerto, chamber music, songs, and choral music.
Johannes Brahms was a traditionalist; his aim was to show that new and important things could still be said in the tradition of the Classical masters.
In the course of its development beyond the Classical-period tradition of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the symphony gained weight and importance.
Nineteenth-century composers found the symphony a suitable framework for their lyrical ("singing") themes, harmonic experiments, and individual expressions. By the Romantic era, music had moved from palace to public concert hall, the orchestra had vastly increased in size, and the symphonic structure was growing steadily longer and more expansive.
Listening Guide 34
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, III
Written in 1883, at the age of fifty
Romantic in tone, Classical in form
Aimed to show new and important things, but still in the tradition of the Classical masters
Three-Note Motive throughout entire Symphony :
◦ F Ab F “Frei aber froh” (Free but happy)
Cyclical
Four movements
II. Andante; modified sonata form, C major
III. Poco allegretto; A-B-A' form, C minor
I. Allegro con brio; sonata-allegro, F major
IV. Allegro; sonata-allegro; F major
Third movement: Poco allegretto
Harmony
Alternates minor-major-minor keys
Chromatic in middle section
Form
Three-part structure (A-B-A')
Rhythm/meter
Moderate triple meter
Rhythmic complexity with three-against-two patterns (contrasting rhythms sounded together) and syncopation
Expression
Arched dynamics and subtle rubato
Melody
Lyrical, melancholic melody with waltz-like feeling
Arched, regular phrases
Timbre
Woodwinds featured in a middle section
French horns bring a return to A
Key: C minor
Lyrical
Melancholy
Waltz-like