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Period: to
Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor
-Ludwig von Beethoven
-Constructed an entire 4-movement symphony out of four notes
- Theme vs. motif – What’s the difference?
-Short-short-short-long (used in all 4 movements)
-Thought to be “fate knocking at the door” for his impending deafness
-Same as the letter “V” in morse code
-This Symphony was used in WWII by the Allies to send messages (V for victory) across enemy lines.
-C minor to C major, also symbolizes the struggle for victory -
Schubert's Erlkönig
-Franz Schubert
-Lied
-Titled "The Elfking" in German
-Composed in 1815 -
Rossini's “Il Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville
-Gioachino Rossini
-Premiered in 1816
-Cavatina – entrance aria in which a character introduces themselves
-Factotum = “jack of all trades”
-Patter arias
-Buffo (comic) characters, such as Figaro
-rapidly delivered lines
-sometimes mixed with nonsense syllables
-repeated often, sung with incredible speed and precision -
Paganini's 24 Caprices for Violin, op. 1
-Nicole Paganini
-Composed 1805, Published 1820
-Caprice – humorous, capricious work characterized by a departure from current stylist norm
-Dedicated to ‘alli Artisti’ (professional musicians)
-Deemed ”unplayable” by many
-Caprice no.24 - theme and variations (theme served as the basis for variations by other composers such as Brahms, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff) -
Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique
-Hector Berlioz
-“Episodes in an Artist’s Life”
-Inspired by his obsession with Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson, whom he married and later divorced
-One of the first programmatic symphonies
-Program music is instrumental music that depicts something non-musical such as a story, a landscape, etc.
-Absolute Music is instrumental music with no program attached or “music for its own sake”. -
Period: to
Chopin's Mazurkas Op. 7
-Frederick Chopin
-Composed in 1830-1831
-B flat major -
Fanny Mendelsohn-Hensel's Das Jahr
-Fanny Mendelsohn-Hensel
-Sister of Felix Mendelsohn
-Titled "The Year"
-Composed in 1841
-Features character pieces, twelve months plus a postlude. -
Period: to
Gottschalk's Souvenir de Porto Rico
-Louis Moreau Gottschalk
-Composed in 1857-1858
-Contains rhythms from the Caribbean region -
Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
-Modest Musorgsky
-A suite of ten pieces inspired by an exhibition Musorgsky saw of over four hundred sketches, paintings, and designs by his late friend Viktor Hartmann
-Composed in 1874 -
Bizet's Carmen
-Georges Bizet
-Premiered in 1875
-Opera Comique
-Spoken dialogue instead of recitative
-The plots are comedies or semiserious dramas.
-Libretto by Meilhac and Halevy
-Carmen –Gypsy
-Mezzo-Soprano, low, seductive voice range
-Augmented 2nd motive used to represent her as the Exotic “other”
-Don Jose – Army Corporal
-Tenor
-Escamillo – Bullfighter (Toreador)
-Bass -
Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs)
-Richard Wagner
-Premiered in 1876
-Wagner’s music dramas feature:
-continuous music
-extensive use of leitmotifs (motive that represents a person, place, or thing)
-eiminished importance of vietuosic singing
-Elimination of musical numbers to enhance continuity
-Cycle of 4 Music Dramas:
-Das Rheingold(The Rhine Gold)
-Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
-Siegfried
-Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods) -
Brahms' Symphony No. 4
-Johannes Brahms
-Composed in 1884
-Composed in E minor
-Premiered in 1885
-Published in 1886
-A traditional four-movement work in unusual arrangement of tempos
- 1st mvt: Allegro non troppo (not too fast)
-2nd mvt: Andante
-3rd mvt: Allegro giocoso (merrily fast)
-4th mvt: Allegro energico e passionato (energetically and passionately fast) -
Mahler's Symphony No. 1
-Gustav Mahler
-Composed in 1884
-Premiered in 1888
-Revised in 1893-1896 and in 1906