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Music History II

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Mozart ... Mozart: the bio according to you. And what is on ... The range of the chant melody in the Mozart Requiem: minor 7th (g' to f') Kennst du das Land? ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Music History II


1
Music History II
  • Lecture Notes 3

2
Writing About Music
  • The goal is to show how both technique and
    emotion are revealed in a musical composition.

3
Vocal Music Aesthetically Supreme
  • The appeal of vocal music is to both heart and
    mind at once.
  • The appeal of instrumental music is only to the
    emotions.

4
Baldassare who?
  • Many operas were written to satisfy the tastes of
    patrons of that day.
  • Very few were able to rise to the technical and
    artistic level of composers like Mozart and Gluck.

5
Comic operas debut 1720s
  • Humorous subject matter
  • Typical libretto of the verismo type
  • Bring on the bass singer! The heroic tenor is
    out.
  • More for ensembles, less for soloists
  • No more long arias and elaborate improvs
  • Simpler melodies, symmetrical phrases

6
From intermezzo to opera buffa
  • Entertainment between acts
  • Extremely popular
  • Could stand alone in performance
  • Transformed into separate operatic works

7
Opera buffa Peu digne
  • Some saw it as a threat to traditional serious
    works (members of the aristocracy).
  • Others as a refreshing change to entrenched
    tradition (the intellectual bourgeoisie)
  • Known as the War of the Buffoons
  • Became immensely popular in France by the
    beginning of the 19th century

8
And whose side are you on?
  • In the French-Italian controversy over
    style Gluck was seen as a French traditionalist
    (successor to Lully and Rameau). Piccinni was
    revered as a representative of the Italian
    tradition of opera seria. Both were
    foreigners.
  • Ben Franklin saw the whole affair as a great
    waste of time.

9
Trouble At the Opera
  • The money grubbing management refused to admit
    spectators at half price after the intermission.

10
Why opera reform?
  • Gluck (and others) dramatic action suffers from
    too much emphasis on the virtuosity of individual
    singers.

11
Alceste Some salient features
  • Admète-Alceste dialogue mostly syllabic
  • Rapid movement of the plot no long arias
  • A prominent role for the chorus
  • Melodies that flow in a simpler style
  • Supportive accompaniment in the pit
  • Overture flows directly into Scene 1

12
Gluck on Opera
  • The true purpose of the music is to give
    expression to the poetry.

13
Glucks Operatic Manifesto
  • Steady flow of text as sung by the actors
  • Overture prepares for the coming action
  • Subject and emotion of the moment reflected in
    the accompaniment
  • Choose simplicity over novelty
  • Agreed with Calzabigi heart language, strong
    passions, interesting situations, ever-varied
    spectacle

14
Mozart
  • Two overarching accomplishments in the field of
    operatic composition The creation of
    psychologically complex characters Ability
    to synthesize and transcend the boundaries of
    buffa, seria, and other operatic styles

15
And how does he do it?
  • Both comedy and tragedy in Don Giovanni
  • Don Juan a nobleman/a notorious libertine
  • The overture slow, deep, chromatic/fast, light,
    diatonic minor/major polyphony/homophony
  • The serious commandant/adventurous Don
  • Murder of commandant/aria of Leporello

16
Mozart the bio according to you
  • And what is on your list?

17
The Emperor and Sacred Music
  • Restrictions imposed by Joseph II No more
    elaborate Masses with full orchestra, chorus, and
    soloists Simpler, more chordal settings of the
    liturgy No more concert-style Masses
  • When did this take place? After 1780

18
Old style elements retained
  • Basso continuo
  • Stricter counterpoint than that used in stage
    music or chamber music
  • Continued use of elaborate fugues with subjects
    in long note values

19
What in the world is tonus peregrinus?
  • The Ninth Psalm Tone has two recitation tones
    (one for each half of the chant melody), hence
    its name which means wandering tone.
  • The range of the chant melody in the Mozart
    Requiem minor 7th (g to f)

20
Kennst du das Land?
  • A strophic song. Why is it written out?
  • Melodic and rhythmic alterations because of the
    text or simply the composers choice
  • Compare mm. 2 29 5-6 32-33 10-14 37-42
    m. 56 with the beginning measure 71 with ?

21
William Billings
  • What did you find in Groves?
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