Jazz & Broadway
Scott Joplin defined this genre which is regarded as a prototype to Jazz.
What is ragtime?
It is both a style of painting and a style of composing. Think water lilies.
What is impressionism?
This scale alternates whole and half steps. Bartok and Stravinsky were big fans.
What is the octatonic scale?
This group of ambitious modernists caused a Skandalkonzert in 1913. The concert didn't even finish.
Who are the Second Viennese School? (Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern)
"There is no theory. Pleasure is the law"
Who is Claude Debussy?
This legendary venue was home to the Duke Ellington Orchestra from 1927 to 1931.
What is The Cotton Club?
This ism does not take itself too seriously. Things can get pretty absurd.
What is surrealism?
Playing in multiple keys at once. Think Ives or Milhaud.
What is polytonality?
This ballet was so controversial, its composer ended up spending eight days in jail.
What is Parade?
"Music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all"
Who is Igor Stravinsky?
This street became synonymous with American songwriting.
What is Tin Pan Alley?
This Ism is all about emotional extremes. Think about the Red Glare.
What is Expressionism?
Mirror, mirror on the wall. Bartok uses this type of symmetry in many of his works.
What is axis symmetry?
It was Nijinsky's first choreographed production and the dancing caused a true riot in the audience. Yikes...
What is The Rite of Spring?
"I rise at 7:18, am inspired from 10:30 to 11:47"
Who is Erik Satie?
Many Jazz musicians came to Northern cities because of this large movement.
What is The Great Migration?
A return to the past and to the basics. Think Pre-Christian Russia, for example.
What is primitivism?
This theory aims to analyze post-tonal music through small intervalic cells, giving each pitch a number.
What is pitch class set theory?
The 1936 Pravda article Chaos Instead of Music was a reaction to what Russian opera? It ended costing the composer...
What is The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District?
"If a composer has a nice wife and some nice children, how can he let the children starve on his dissonances?"
Who is Charles Ives?
This 1927 musical set on the Mississippi River challenged racial segregation and prejudice.
What is Show Boat?
Scriabin, Himalayas, the Apocalypse. This -ism is just impractical.
What is mysticism?
The four procedures applicable to a twelve-tone row.
What are Prime (P), Retrograde (R), Inversion (I), and Retrograde Inversion (RI)?
Despite its setting in medieval Germany, this opera caused a scandal in the early days of the Nazi regime and forced its composer to immigrate to Switzerland.
What is Mathis der Maler?
"For me there is no White music or Black music - there is only music by individual men that is important if it attempts to dignify all men, not just a particular race"
Who is William Grant Still?