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Unit 8: Revolutionary Music (20TH CENTURY NEO-CLASSICISM (NATIONALISM IN…
Unit 8: Revolutionary Music
EXPRESSIONIST OPERA: Chapter 55
SOCIAL ADVOCACY & MUSICAL INNOVATION
Artist’s shed light on social problems
Replacement of tonality- 12 tone method
Schoenberg developed a system to replace tonality
Serialism- method of composing with 12 chromatic
pitches
Tone row- Arrangement of the 12 pitches
Alternate forms of tone row:
Transposition: same order of intervals; starts
different pitch
Retrograde: Reverse order or backwards
Retrograde inversion: Upside down & backward
Inversion of notes
2nd Viennese School
Schoenberg teacher
Alban Berg & Anton Webern Students
1st Viennese School- Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven
Alban Berg: (1885-1935)
Born in Vienna, studied with Schoenberg
Rose to fame with Wozzeck
Active teacher and promoter of Schoenberg
school
Violin concerto, Lulu, Lyric Suite
Berg's Wozzeck: 1922
Opera in 3 acts; 5 scenes; orchestral interludes
Originally a play by Buchner- expressionist play on reallife
events; Berg wrote libretto
Modern- 12 tone technique & Romantic- German
romantic expressionism
THE SYMPHONIC REVOLUTION & BEETHOVEN
Beethoven wrote 9 Symphonies
3 periods to his music- early, middle, late
Early- (until 1802) Symphony 1 & 2
style of Mozart & Haydn
Middle- (1803-1814) Symphony 3-8
Symphony 3- “Eroica”- Begins revolution of changing symphonic sound
dedicated to Napoleon
Personal narrative of individual heroism
Late- (1814-1827)
Symphony 9- adds choir (chorale) with final “Ode to Joy”
Beethoven and Politics:
Many composers responded to political climate- they are artists
Beethoven a supporter of democracy
Napoleon (at first)
Great Britain democratic parliament system (Wellington’s Victory)
“Ode to Joy” finale widely used for political aims
SYMPHONY 1- BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 (1801)-
Style of Mozart & Haydn
Form- Sonata Allegro
Begins to explore:
Musical joke- beginning
Winds becoming more prominent
Changing Tempo within the form
SYMPHONY 3- UPRISINGS BEGIN
Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major, Op. 55 “Eroica” (Heroic)
Uprising starts:
Form- Scherzo with a Trio- 1st time Trio appears in a Symphony
Length- twice as long as Mozart & Haydn and scrutinized for in reviews
Context- Napoleon
SYMPHONY 5- OUT OF CONFLICT COMES VICTORY
Four movements but a UNIFED piece
Conflict in movement 1 to victory in movement 4
Movement 1- Allegro con brio
Sonata- allegro form
Motive- short- short- short- LONG
Dominates whole piece
Fate knocking at the your door
Chapter 69:
CONTEMPORARY OPERA
History represented in opera
Not a documentary
Deeper truths found in his stories based on fiction
John Adams
American Composer
Minimalist
Neo-Romantic- accessible & deeply expressive
Educated at Harvard
Steeped in serialism, but listened to rock in dorm
room
1972 moved to San Francisco
Taught at San Francisco Conservatory
Advocate for contemporary music
ADAM’S DOCTOR ATOMIC (LG 65)
Opera (3rd one)
Libretto
Peter Sellars
Based on memoirs, government documents, poetry, & Hindu scripture
Focuses on the last days and hours before the first atomic test in 1945
Hugely complex subject, combining science and art & criticized at the time
Chapters 42 and 61: Rise of Nationalism
Music Nationalism:
Music builds community cohesion
Since the nineteenth century, sense of community tied to the concept of nationality
Composers expressed nationalism in a variety of ways
Basing music on songs and dances of their people
Dramatic works based on folklore or peasant life
Works celebrating national heroes, historic events, or scenic beauty
Political expression sometimes banned
Nationalism in the Czech Republic:
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Used folk music of Moravia and Bohemia
Write symphonic, chamber, concerti, and operas
Famous during lifetime
Slavonic Dance #8
New World Symphony- 2nd
Cello Concerto
MODERNIST NATIONALISM:
Integration of traditional & folk music into experimental art music
Music characteristics meaningful in a certain culture may change meaning when added to another art form
Musicologists:
Phonographs were taken to villages to preserve songs as they were meant to be performed
Captured original music
Composers tried to retain that idea is new music
20TH CENTURY NEO-CLASSICISM
Revolt against traditions and return to 18th century music idealism of Bach, Handel, & Vivaldi
Revolt again romantic music & symphonic poem
Revival of older forms- fugue & suite
NATIONALISM IN ENGLAND-
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Influences from all of Europe- not just England
Self-taught composer
Gramophone recordings- important for symphony
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Wrote operas, ballets, chamber music, symphonic music, vocal pieces
English folk songs
Served in WWI
Nationalism in Spain:
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
From Cadiz
Studied piano & taught
Wrote operas, piano, orchestral, choral, chamber, guitar works
Three Cornered Hat
Nights in Spanish Gardens
