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Unit 6: Music and Death (The Requiem: Mass for the Dead (Mozart's…
Unit 6: Music and Death
The Requiem: Mass for the Dead
Requiem = Mass for the Dead
Music for comfort and spiritual sustenance
originally for catholic Church but found way to concert hall
composers tend to customize the catholic tradition
usually in Latin
Has the intention of being compassionate towards the idea of death - looks at the bigger picture of life and death, we all need to process (doesn't necessarily celebrate death)
Mozart's Death
1791 - Died young at the age of 35
On his deathbed, he worked on Funeral Mass (Requiem)
His last large-scale composition
He died before he finished composing it (it was completed by his student Sussmayr)
There were myths that Mozart died because he was poisoned but this not true
most likely just died from the flu
Pauper's Grave
Mozart's Requiem (chapter 35)
Scored for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists plus chorus and orchestra
orchestra included more instruments at this time such as bassoon and basset horn
Voices and instrument arrangement have dramatic effect
Impact: John F Kennedy's Funeral and 9/11 commemorations
Dies Irae
The last song that Mozart completed
Day of Wrath for the Funeral Mass (requuiem)
Emphasizes power of Divine Intervention
Choral opening then solo verse combo and choral finish
Accented in duple meter
harsh combo of major and minor
homophonic
8 verses - word painting
Faure and Late French Romanticism
Romantic music in France followed several streams
grand orchestral music and operas (Berlioz and Wagner)
Pianists in salons and concert halls - Chopin
Art Songs (Melodie) separate from German Lied
Sacred Music - Faure's early career grounded in playing and composing music for the catholic church
Gabriel Faure (1845-1924)
French
trained to be a church musician in Paris
1980- composition teach at the Ecole Niedermeyer
Later director of Paris Conservatory
Influential music critic
Style is restrained and intimate
In direct contrast to German Romanticism
Faure's Requiem
took over 20 years to write
1888 - 1st performed for the funeral of an architect
nonstandard form - creates intimacy
freely edited latin liturgical texts
smaller chamber orchestra
7 movements
Sometimes celestial, sometimes funeral
Libera Me (listening guide 39)
Deliver Me, O Lord
Baritone solot, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass chorus, Chamber orchestra
beginning is reassuring
homophonic
pulsing ostinato
serene mood
middle section: Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)
Forceful french horns
Forceful choir
Ending Returns to Libera Me
serene
soloists and Choir
Purcell and Early Opera (Chapter 21)
Early Opera
Opera: Large scale drama that is sung
involves vocal and instrumental music, poetry, acting, scenery and costumes
opera is not meant for realistic depiction, rather "hyper-reality"
strong emotions portrayed through music
libretto or librettist (person)
text or script of opera
Main components of Opera
Orchestra
sets mood
overture - introduction
Sinfonias - interludes between scenes
Recitative
Speech-like sinigng
moves plot along
Aria
Emotional
no action is taken - frozen in time
sung outside of the opera (concert/ rectal settings)
where opera singers gain the most fame
Ensemble
chorus - duos, trios, quartets
backs up solo voices
commentary on plot
Early Opera in Italy and Beyond
Early opera an outgrowth of Renaissance Theatrical Traditions
Lavish spectacls
example: Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607)
By 1642 there are public opera houses open in Venice
widespread entertainment
not mythology stories about love triangles and historical figures
example: Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea (1643)
By 1700, Italian opera popular throughout Europe
except in France- had own tradition
Early Opera in England
Early 17th Century Masques (stage plays)
popular among aristocracy
combined vocal and instrumental music with poetry and dance
Commonwealth Period (1649-1695)
stage plays forbidden because they are said to be "of the Devil"
Plays set to music could be passes off as a "concert"
this is the tradition behind England's first operas
Grief in Early Opera
Dido and Aeneas (listening guide 11)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
various English court posts
wrote masques and operas
assimilated Italian and French styles to English Choral Singing
1st Great English Opera
first performed at a London Girls' School
Based on part of Virgil's Aeneid
Aeneas Shipwrecked on Island of Carthage
Aeneas and Queen of Carthage - Dido fall in love
witch tricks Aeneas and calls back to battle
Aeneas leaves and Dido dies of a broken heart
Last act features a lively hornpipe and concludes with a lament over a ground bass
Music as a Soundtrack for Life and Death: The Programmatic Symphony Chapter 41
Romantic Program Music
Program Music - instrumental music with literary or pictorial associations specified by the composer
different from Absolute Music - musical patterns designed without meanings
Program Music is more artistic within society
Hector Berlioz (1803-18690
born in Southern France
meant to be a physician but loved music
fan of Beethoven and Shakespeare
fell in love with Harriet- Smithson, an actress who performed Shakespeare
married but loved Shakespeare actress more than her; was more in love with the idea of her
Works draw upon literary influences
Goethe, Lord Byron and Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet and King Lear)
Genius Orchestrator
wrote a book on this
21st Century Programmatic Music (chapter 66)
Neo-Romanticism
Embracing aspects of 19th Century orchestral sound, including Program Music
"Modernizing" the 19th Century orchestral tradition
reclaimed 19th century harmonic and melodic language - just new context
Romantic Style of the 1800s never really went away; still performed in concert halls
some composers maintained a commitment to Romanticism, updating it
Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings
Jennifer Higdon
born in Brooklyn
studied with George Crumb
inspired by the Beatles
output spans most genres, described as having an "American" sound
Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for violin concerto
teaches composition at the Curtis Institute
Higdon's Blue Cathedral (Listening Guide 61)
written in 2000
personal grief over death of her brother
Overall:
lyrical- neo romantic
no key center- lots of major triads
meters shift but mostly 5/4
metallic percussion- including Chinese Reflex Balls
Program Music
tone colors
biographical elements