Genres
Art song with German words for voice with accompaniment, especially popular during the early Romantic era
What is the Lied (or Lieder)
Ballet company in Paris with Russian origins. Today it would be called a modern dance company, because it was considered a hotbed of artistic innovation.
What is the Ballet Russes?
Hungarian composer of the mid-to-late 19th-century; famous for piano skills and piano music. Advocate of program music.
Who was Liszt?
Listening no. 1
What is the Barber of Seville (rossini)
What artistic (literary/painting) movements was Debussy’s music associated with? Define the movements briefly and explain why the music fits with them.
Impressionism and symbolism
Nineteenth-century operatic trend that presents everyday people in familiar situations, often depicting sordid or brutal events
What is Verisimo opera
Elegant Italian vocal style of the early 19th century marked by lyrical, embellished, and florid melodies that show off the beauty and agility of the singer's voice.
What is bel canto?
Composer of the early 20th century famous for 'emancipating the dissonance.' Leader of the Second Viennese School and pioneered atonal music compositional techniques.
Who was Arnold Schoenberg?
Listening no. 2
What is In C (Riley)
Name some differences between absolute and program music.
Tell me more!
Type of short PIANO piece popular during the ROMANTIC PERIOD, marked by highly embellished MELODY, sonorous accompaniments, and a contemplative mood.
What is a nocturne
Music that avoids a general pitch or tonal center
What is atonality or emancipation of the dissonance?
Russian composer in the early 20th-century famous for his use of modernist harmonic and rhythmic techniques in several ballets. Music once started a riot.
Who was Igor Stravinsky?
Listening no. 3
What is Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz)
What did Wagner aim to do with the concept of Gesamkunstwerk?
Tell me more.
19th-century operatic genre with spoken dialogue, a realist plot, stark drama, and a lack of sentimentality
What is French grand opera?
Term coined by Hector Berlioz for a melody used throughout a piece to represent a thing or a person, modified to fit the situation.
What is an idée fixe?
Early 20th-century French composer who did away with functional harmony in traditional ways in order to put harmonies and tones to use more effectively. Associated with the impressionist painting school. Once said 'there is no theory, you only have to listen. Pleasure is the law.'
Who was Claude Debussy?
Listening no. 4
What is Der Lindenbaum (Schubert)
What are the two parts of Rossini’s aria form?
Cantabile and cabaletta
A movement that began in the 1960s. Musical procedures are simplified and made clear; focuses on processes themselves.
What is minimalism?
An exoticized way to portray people outside composer's own culture; famously realized in Carmen's habañera with Bizet's use of Spanish melody, Cuban rhythm, and chromaticism thought to be prevalent in Gypsy cultures.
What is musical otherness?
Early 19th-century German composer famous for writing in every genre, but particularly that of the Lied. Piano and voice play equally important roles. Died very young.
Who was Franz Schubert?
Listening no. 5
What is Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg)?
How was Mendelssohn both ‘Classical’ and ‘Romantic’?
Tell me more.