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Unit 6: Music and Death (Gabriel Faure (Faure and Late French Romanticism:…
Unit 6: Music and Death
The Requiem: Mass for the Dead
What is a Requiem?
A mass for the dead
Mass for comfort and spiritual sustenance
Start out only in the Catholic church
End up being performed in Concert Halls
Composers tended to customize this once Catholic tradition into their own
Many performed in Latin
Mozart's Death
Died at the age of 35 in 1791
On his deathbed he was working on his own Requiem
His Requiem was his last large scale work
He personally did not complete it
One of his students completed it
Sussmayr
There were myths of poison as the cause of death
Buried in a Pauper's grave
Mozart's Requiem
Scored for SATB
Orchestra
Included more added instruments: Bassoon and Basset Horn
Chorus
Multiple impacts and played in major historical events:
JFK's Funeral
9/11 commemoration
Dies Irae:
Last song Mozart completed
Emphasizes the power of divine intervention
Choral opening then solo verse and finally a choral finish
Duple Meter
Harsh combo of major and minor
Homophonic
8 verses: Word painting
Listening Guide 39:
Libera Me
"Deliver me, O Lord"
Beginning: Reassurance
Homophonic
Pulsing Ostinato
Serene Mood
Middle: Dies Irae "Day of Wrath"
Forceful French Horns
FF Choir
Ending returns to Libera me
Soloist and Choir
Serene
Gabriel Faure
(1845-1924)
1890:
Composition teacher at Ecole Niedermeyer
French Composer:
Trained as a church composer in Paris
Becomes the director of Paris Conservatory
Music Critic
Style is restrained and intimate
Example: Pavane
Contrast to German Romanticism
Faure and Late French Romanticism:
Grand Orchestra's and Operas
Pianist in salons and concert halls: Chopins
Sacred Music:
Music for the Church
Art song
Melodie: Unlike the German influence
Faure's Requiem:
Took over 20 years for him to complete
1888: First time it was performed
Funeral for the Architect
Nonstandard form creates Intimacy
Freely edited latin liturgical texts
Smaller orchestras
7 movements
21st Century Programatic Music
Neo-Romanticism
Embracing aspects of 19th century orchestral sounding including program music
modernizing 19th century orchestral music
Reclaimed the 19th century Harmonic and Melodic Language
New Context
Jennifer Higdon
Born 1962
Brooklyn NY
Studied under George Crumb
Inspired by The Beatles
Rooting in Tonality
Output spans most genres, described as having the American Sound
Pulitzer Prize for Violin Concerto in 2010
Listening guide 61:
Higdon's Blue Cathedral
Written in 2000
Written with the personal grief of her brother's death
Overall:
Lyrical: Neoromantic
No key center
Meters shift but stay mainly in the 4-5 range
Metallic percussion
Purcell and Early Opera: Chapter 21
Early Opera:
LArge-scale Drama that is sung
Not meant for realistic depiction
Involves vocal and instrumental music, acting, poetry, and costumes
Strong emotions portrayed through music
Libretto or Librettist (person)
Text or script of the opera
In Italy and Beyond..
Outgrowth of Renaissance Theatrical Traditions
Lavish spectacles
By1642 Public opera houses where everywhere
Easy access for common people
by 1700, italian opera popularized throughout Europe
France had its own form
Main Components of Opera:
Orchestra:
Sets mood
Overture - introduction
Sinfonias - interludes between scenes
Recitative:
Speech like song
Moves the plot along
Aria:
Emotional
No Action is taken, frozen time
sung outside of the opera
Ensemble:
Chorus- Duos, trios, Quartets
Backs up solo voices
Music as a soundtrack for life & death: The Programmatic Symphony
Program Music = instrumental music with literary or pictorial associations
More Artistic within society
Absolute music = Musical patterns designed without meanings
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Born in Southern France
Meant to be a physician but loved music
Fan of beethoven and Shakespeare
Works draw upon literary influences
Berlioz and Symphonie fantasique (lg 32)
Intense and bold
first great proponent of musical romanticism in france
Program symphony based on personal life
form- Thematic Transformation
