The Three Bs
Baroque
The only "professional" musician of the Mighty Five, he sought to catalogue and discover Russian folk songs
Who is Miliy Alexeyevich Balakirev?
Published studies, sometimes for concert use, like some works of Liszt. Other etudes are more practical and meant to advance particular techniques of a given instrument.
What is an Etude?
His music straddled the boundary between classical and popular music, and through him the American public began to accept jazz
Who is George Gershwin?
Who is Giovanni Maria Artusi?
A lively triple meter song-dance originating in New Spain (16th century); brought to Europe, becoming a guitar genre with ostinato bass; later harmonic patterns, characteristic rhythms, and a slower tempo led it onto the theatrical stage; by the middle Baroque period, sarabandes were standard in instrumental suites, becoming a virtuosic piece in J.S. Bach’s chamber music.
Sarabande
His opera Boris Godunov helped define a Russian style by rejecting both the "Brains" and the "Beauty" of German and Italian opera, favoring realism instead
What is a Fantasy?
He popularized a new monodic style as well as notational practice of figured bass. His “Amarilli mia bella” exemplified stile recitativo
Who is Guilo Caccini?
This German philosopher influenced interest in folklore, early Lied & Romanticism in music
Who is Johann Gottfried von Herder?
A variation technique whereby a theme is altered and placed in a new context, yet maintains a relationship to the original; with precedents in Beethoven and Berlioz, this approach is most associated with the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt and the operas of Richard Wagner.
What is Thematic transformation?
A brilliant orchestrator, he played a role in advancing music of his peers through reorchestrations and performing editions of previous works.
Who is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov?
French for “Hungarian style” ; a 19th century Viennese belief that the urban gypsy music it had imported was native to Hungary, rural, and exotic, none of which was true; however the belief was widespread enough to result in numerous “Hungarian” pieces, notably by Liszt and Brahms.
What is Style Hongrois?
The popularity of this new lightweight genre in 16th century Italy was driven by the printing trade
What is Frottola?
This German philosopher considered all music prior to the 16th century as “prehistory”
Who is Wilhelm Hegel?
What is Developing Variation?
This member of the Mighty Five was a chemist by day, and known for his Symphonies by night.
Who is Alexander Borodin?
“Hungarian Music,” specifically urban popular music derived largely from Romani (gypsy) culture; misunderstood as indigenous music by Liszt, Brahms, and others; distinguished from nepdalok (folk music), the peasant music that Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly studied.
What is Magyar nota?
His opera A Life for the Tsar is considered the first true Russian opera
Who is Mikail Glinka?
This 20th century composer specialized in string quartets and was interested in metrical modulation; his work was well received by critics, despite its lack of a large audience
Who is Elliot Carter?
The notion that all movements of a musical composition are thematically related, based on the work’s opening measures; embodied in the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven.
What is Organicism?
The Mighty Five represented one school of composition in mid-to-late 19th century Russia; the opposing conservatives were led by these brothers.
Who are Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein?
Originally, Hungarian military recruiting music, drawn from native popular song, but performed in a gypsy manner; later incorporated into style hongrois dance music.
What is Verbunkos?
This term, meaning “according to the fancy of the performer,” is used to designate a piece with sudden contrasts and unexpected effects. It was popularized by Paganini
What is Caprice?
His famous article “Who Cares If You Listen?” was rooted in 19th century historicism, and likened the modern pursuits and experimentation of music to advanced mathematical or theoretical physics
Who is Milton Babbitt?