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CLASSICAL SPICE Song Study Notes by Debbie Johnson CLASSICAL SPICE is a fun and creative way to listen to and study these wonderful classical compositions and to get to know the musical time periods. The CD Classical Spice is used for the musical examples , but I strongly recommend that you also listen to the full orchestrations of some of the pieces to fully understand the original style in which they were written. Historical facts, art, interesting anecdotes and catchy sayings are also used to help remember what happened in each of the time periods. We will cover FOUR main musical time periods. They are: BAROQUE CLASSICAL ROMANTIC and IMPRESSIONISTIC The FOUR SAYINGS we’ll be using are: “BAROQUE HAS A LOT OF NOTES” “CLASSICAL IS LIGHT AND AIRY” “ROMANTIC IS EXPRESSIVE” “IMPRESSIONISTIC PAINTS A PICTURE” We will also be using art examples to help illustrate the musical style further. The websites are included in this guide so you can look up the pictures in full color. It will be helpful for you to look up the examples as you go along and put the music and art samples side by side. Musical terms in italics are defined at the end of each section. Okay, ready? Here we go!! BAROQUE (1600-1750) “Baroque has a lot of notes!” HISTORICAL FACTS The Baroque time period occurred approximately 1600-1750. 1607 King James I of England granted a charter for Jamestown to be established, the first permanent settlement in the U.S. 1610 Galileo proved theory that planets circle the sun. 1616 William Shakespeare dies. 1620 Mayflower lands at Plymouth. 1626 Battle of Dessau occurs in Germany--a major battle of the 30 year war. 1642 English Civil war begins. 1648 30 Year war ends, freeing North Germany, Sweden and France and weakening the Holy Roman Empire. 1652 Capetown founded in South Africa by the Dutch. 1664 New Amsterdam is renamed New York when British took over for the Dutch. 1672 Admission was charged for a London Concert, beginning the trend that would change the economic structure of the arts in Western culture. Up to this point, the creation and presentation of art, including music, was generally supported by the church or by private patrons of royal or noble birth. When the financing of the arts began to come from middle class audiences, composers and other creative artists became much more independent of patrons, and could sell their music and performances directly to the general public. 1679 Habeus Corpus Act passed in Britian, demanding a jailer to produce a prisoner and show cause why the prisoner was being held. 1709 Battle of Poltava. The Russians victory in the Ukraine was so decisive that it made Russia the dominant power in Northern Europe. MUSICAL FACTS The style was ornate, heavy and flowery. In fact, in architecture, sculptures and paintings were sometimes so overdone that they were distorted. This was a time where a perfected tonal system took hold. (major and minor key signatures) Also, regular time signatures and bar lines became the standard. Baroque music was dominated by Italian ideas and the cantata and opera were major new forms that were developed. Dance rhythms and forms were emphasized. Many composers chose to write pieces using strong and energetic rhythms. Music written during this period is characterized by dramatic gestures and expressive melodies. Music and art both were dramatic and flowery. The Baroque period ended with the death of J.S. Bach. Composers discussed: J.S. Bach, Handel Other Composers: Pachabel, Scarlatti, Couperin MAIN COUNTRY GERMANY The German flag has 3 horizontal stripes with the colors red, yellow and black. Germany was being ravaged by the thirty years war during the Baroque period. German church music of the Baroque period was greatly influenced in one way or another by chorales, or hymn tunes, of the German Protestant church. Many of these tunes were melodies the people already knew and some of them were “bar-room” songs that the common folk sang on the streets. German Baroque composers: Bach, Handel, Buxtehude, Pachebel, Telemann. Facts: German flag is red, yellow, black. “Bar-room songs” BAROQUE COMPOSITIONS PRELUDE in C by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Bach’s parents died when he was young and there was very little money. He received his earliest piano instruction from his brother. He was refused permission to play a group of German piano pieces, so he copied the whole volume at moonlight in a six month time period in the attic. This achievement illustrates a habit which accompanied him through his whole life. It ruined his eyesight, but he was very careful with form and detail in all his compositions. JS Bach was not famous for his composing during his lifetime, but he was the greatest organist of his time. He also wrote almost all sacred (religious) music, working mostly as a church musician. Other compositions he wrote on his time off, or in his free time, of which he had very little. He put together a whole book of chorales for the church, which used some of the popular bar-songs of the time At twenty-two, he married his cousin , Maria Barbara Bach, and lived in Weimar, working for a Duke as an organist. Maria died in 1721 and he remarried Anna Maddalena. He had a total of twenty children. He was a prolific writer (as well as a father!), writing a different piece for each week of events for churches where he was employed. Music was not kept as it is now. Once a piece was played, many times it was discarded, therefore losing many of the precious manuscripts of great works. In fact, many of Bach’s manuscripts were used as fish wrappings! But if you were to study all of the pieces we have from JS Bach today, (and we only have a fraction of what he really wrote), it would more than fill a lifetime of study. His genius is shown in the details of form (pattern of his pieces) and his fugues (where one or more melodies are repeated in many different ways). When you analyze how he uses a main theme with three to five parts going at the same time, in different directions, you can get a glimpse of his genius. In 1721 J.S. Bach composed his six Brandenburg Concertos. In 1722, he finished the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, and published the second volume in 1740. Due to the great amount of work he had been doing, Bach became totally blind in 1749. He died shortly after. When Bach died, so did the Baroque era. The Prelude in C is taken from a collection called the Well-tempered Clavier, two volumes of 24 preludes and fugues in each for the piano. They are a tremendous study in form and technique and are included in the repertoire of most pianists. The Prelude in C has so much rhythmic energy (driving repetition of a rhythmic pattern), and is very conducive to an added rhythm section behind the piano. It was fun going from the major key in the Prelude to the minor key in the Solfeggietto, then back to the major key in the Prelude, as the pieces are arranged in Classical Spice. Facts: J.S.Bach had 20 children, wrote for the church, organist, genius of form, ended the Baroque era. SOLFEGGIETTO in Cminor by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) Carl Philipp was the second son of Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara Bach. He did not follow closely in his father’s footsteps in his writing style, but did become the mentor of Haydn and Mozart (other great Classical composers), as was Beethoven. His art songs became the inspiration of Schubert (also a great writer of art songs). CPE Bach was a tremendous pianist, especially in improvisation (making up music as you go along). He wrote nearly 700 vocal and instrumental compositions. The Solfeggietto is a very popular piece among musicians. Not only do pianists like to perform the running sixteenth note arpeggiated and scale passages, but also many guitarists and vocalists. It is a fun, fast piece that demonstrates how good Carl Philipp must have been as a pianist. The sixteenth note pattern of the Solfeggietto matches the rhythmic patterns of the Prelude in C by JS Bach, thus the joining together of the two pieces work remarkably well in Classical Spice. Fact: CPE Bach was a great pianist, son of J.S. Bach SARABANDE by George Frederich Handel (1685-1759) Handel was born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach to non-musical parents in Germany. His father desired for him to be a lawyer, but from the age of seven, he had taught himself to play the harpsichord (ancestor of the piano), practicing on an instrument smuggled into the attic. When his father took him on a visit to a nobleman, the nobleman persuaded his father to give him lessons. Handel then learned to play the violin, oboe, harpsichord and organ and also studied harmony, counterpoint and composition. When his father died, he dropped law and accepted a position as an organist in a church in Dom. Handel went on to compose many operas (a musical drama where the story is completely sung with acting and props), and oratorios (a musical composition with a sacred theme with no action or scenery), with one of his most famous oratorios being Messiah, composed between August and September 1741 in London, England. At the rousing Hallelujah Chorus, audiences rise spontaneously to their feet today as they did at the first London performance. It all started when King George II of England stood at a performance and in all due respect, the whole audience rose when the king stood. The tradition has lasted to this day. For the last seven years of his life, Handel was blind. But he continued to play the organ and conduct until his death The Sarabande is a Spanish Dance and is originally just a page long and in the time signature of 3/2 (3 beats to a measure, 1/2 note gets one beat). It is arranged on Classical Spice to focus on it’s Spanish theme and uses the instrumentation of mandolin, castanets and trumpet to do so. The time signature also changes several times from 3/2 to 9/8, then 7/8, 6/8, then finally back to the 3/2 as it was in the beginning. Time signature changes can help make a piece more exciting and interesting by making it feel faster or slower as the piece progresses.(tempo) As you listen to the Sarabande, see if you can feel the changes in mood between the sections. The melody and basic harmony remains the same throughout the arrangement (you can almost sing along), even though there are a lot of notes added with each section! Facts: Handel’s father wanted him to be a lawyer, wrote the Messiah, organist. ALLEGRO MAESTOSO (Water Music) by George Frederich Handel (1685-1759) (his biography is under the Sarabande) Allegro Maestoso is a movement from Handel’s Water Music, which he wrote in 1717. The Water Music consists of three suites for orchestra, 20 or so pieces in all, and the Allegro Maestoso, or the “Alle Hornpipe”, as it is called, is from Suite II in D Major. The Water Music was first performed with fifty instrumentalists playing from a city company barge (large flat-bottomed boat), accompanying the King’s royal barge and other rivercraft up the Thames river from Whitehall to Chelsea. There are barges today that just float along rivers, carrying trash that there is no room for. The King enjoyed the music so much that he had the entire composition played twice before and once after supper. The original orchestration alternates two horn fanfares (a trumpet “call”), with strings. You may have heard this piece in the movie Dead Poets Society. JESU JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING from Cantata #147 by Johann Sebastian Bach (his biography under the Prelude) This piece is the final choral section from one of Bach’s 200-plus cantatas (a piece for choir with some drama). When he was writing a cantata a week, Bach would start on Monday, composing and copying all instrumental parts for four days. The first rehearsal would be on Saturday and the performance would be at 8 A.M. on Sundays at church. He did four complete cycles of 52 weeks like this, and probably more. Bach’s cantatas are an incredible collection of great music that have attracted many great musical minds. The average cantata is about 30 minutes long and would be included with many other musical pieces, as church services many times would last all day. (we complain today about services over an hour!) Women were not allowed to sing in church, so boy sopranos were used for the high parts. Jesu Joy was first performed July 2, 1723. This is a very popular piece and is performed today with almost any instrument of the orchestra for weddings and other special events. ART EXAMPLES ISABELLA BRANT by Sir Anthony van Dyck. Flemish 1599-1641. 1621 Isabella Brant depicts the first wife of Peter Paul Rubens. The setting is the garden entrance to Ruben’s mansion. It seems that Van Dyck was not a healthy man, and in his paintings a languid and slightly melancholic mood often prevails MARCHESA BALBI 1621-2 by Sir Anthony van Dyck. In this work, Van Dyck took advantage of the austerity of Genoese attire. No matter how beautiful the fabrics, adults were permitted to wear only black and white. In this picture, Van Dyck defined the marchesa’s stark outfit with a cascade of gold embroidery that glistens in the shadows. Her skirt and lace make her dress unusually long for her body porportions. Van Dyck was so overburdened with commissions for portraits that he, like his master Rubens, was unable to cope with them all himself. He had a number of assistants, who painted the costumes of his sitters arranged on dummies, and he did not always paint even the whole head. SELF PORTRAIT Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rihn (1606-1669) Dutch painter. 1659 His paintings brought him fame during his lifetime. Of all the Baroque masters, it was Rembrandt who evolved the most revolutionary technique and who seemed to grow into the Italians' spiritual heir. He worked in complex layers, building up a picture from the back to the front with delicate glazes that allowed light actually to permeate his backgrounds and reflect off the white underpainting. Rembrandt painted a number of self-portraits. Other well known works include Night Watch and Simeon in the Temple. Self portraits. YOUNG MAN SEATED AT A TABLE Rembrandt 1659 (possibly Govaert Flinck), c. 1660 By the middle of the 1630s Rembrandt had long since abandoned conventional Dutch smoothness and his surfaces were already caked with more paint than was strictly necessary to present an illusion. BAROQUE TERMS STACCATO: sharp and detached LEGATO: smooth ARPEGGIOS: notes running up and down on chord tones ART SONG: solo song with accompaniment (any instrument) SCALE: Steps between 2 notes, usually an octave MAJOR KEY: Includes a major third of the scale. A “happy key” MINOR KEY: Includes a minor third of the scale. A “sad key” FORM: the melodic and rhythmic pattern of the piece FUGUE: where one or more melodies (themes) are repeated in many different ways, at different times TIME SIGNATURE: a sign used in music to show meter, represented by a fraction in which the upper figure shows beats per measure and the lower figure shows each beat’s time value. BAR LINE: the line separating each measure in a piece of music SIXTEENTH NOTES: Notes that have the time value of one-sixteenth of a whole note CANTATA: a piece for choir with some drama, almost a small oratorio RHYTHM: the meter (beat) of music, usually in 3,4, 6 or 9 beats MELODY: the linear structure of a piece of music in which single notes follow one another. HARMONY: any combination of notes that are sung or played at the same time. Usually a pleasing combination of musical sounds COUNTERPOINT: the sounding together of two or more melodic lines in a piece of music, each of which displays an individual and different melody and rhythm TIME SIGNATURE: Numbers at the beginning of a piece, 4/4, 3/4, etc... THEME AND VARIATIONS: The melody is stated at the beginning, then revised in many ways throughout the piece, using major, minor, different time signatures, and accompaniment patterns. OPERA: a musical drama where the story is completely sung with acting and props ORATORIO: a musical composition with a sacred theme with no action or scenery ORCHESTRATION: the arrangement of a piece of music to be played by an orchestra (group of instruments) TEMPO: How fast or slow a piece is played/sung. CLASSICAL (1770-1800) “Classical is light and airy” HISTORICAL FACTS The Classical period is known as the age of “Enlightenment”. Approximately 1770-1800. 1773 Boston Tea Party, where patriots dressed up as Indians, boarded the merchant ship and threw the tea into Boston harbor, depriving the Crown England of the ability to levy a tax on tea. 1775 beginning of Revolutionary War, forewarned by Paul Revere. American militiamen fought 700 British troops. 1776 Watts builds Steam Engine,making the industrial revolution possible. Declaration of Independence stated that the colonies were free and independent states, absolved of all allegiance to England. 1783 Treaty of Paris was signed, bringing to an end the American Revolutionary War. Great Britain recognized the United States. 1789 George Washington becomes first U.S. President. French Revolution begins, adopting the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and eliminated all aristocratic privileges. 1789 French Jews granted full civil rights. 1790 Bank of U.S. started. 1792, France Declares War on Austria. 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. 1798 U.S. Navy created. This was done to help prepare the United States for war with France. MUSICAL FACTS Simpler harmonic rhythm (change of chords), than the Baroque period. There are fast melodies over slow moving harmonies. When the harmony changes, many times there is a strong accent. Public concerts and music printing increased. The music is simple, light, airy and free flowing. Composers: CPE Bach, Mouret, Young Beethoven, Mozart. MAIN COUNTRIES ITALY and FRANCE were the more of the center of the Classical period. They defined social refinement and luxury. Decorative arts and interior design were transformed by the growing popularity of the rococo style, a light-hearted and elegant style based on asymmetrical natural forms. In architecture, restrained ornament, delicate arved limestone details, and the sophisticated play of volume and lighting give the domestic and public architecture of the period a sense of calm grandeur.Fact: Classical era brought lighter music, art and architecture. CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS SPRING (La Primavera) from the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741) Vivaldi was born in Italy, the son of a violinist. Not much is known of his early years. He studied the violin with his father and became an outstanding virtuoso on that instrument. Vivaldi not only influenced the great Johann Sebastian Bach, but he composed notable concertos for stringed instruments. In fact, he was better known as a composer than Bach in his own day. But his forty operas are never sung, his hundred or more religious works are seldom played. But some of the hundreds of concertos (an elaborate composition with orchestra and one or more solo instruments), for stringed instruments and sonatas (a piano or other solo instrumental piece with several movements), have received fine performances and are popular listening even today. Vivaldi was employed by both the court (by a prince), and by the church (he became a priest and music director). Vivaldi is lived between the Baroque and Classical time periods, but stylistically is linked to the Classical Spring is a movement in a larger work called the Four Seasons, which was a hit in 18th century Venice during Vivaldi’s lifetime, then fell into obscurity before it’s revival just 40 or 50 years ago. The Four Seasons covers Spring (the first movement), Summer, Autumn, and Winter and is a set of four violin concertos, each with three movements. The arrangement of Spring included on Classical Spice uses the piano as the main melodic instrument, then uses the string orchestra and added rhythms for accompaniment. Spring is a very popular piece and you may have heard it on TV on one of many car commercials. Fact: Vivaldi was a great writer for the string orchestra and was better known than Bach in his day. RONDEAU from Sinfonies De Fanfares (Premiere Suite, 1st movement) by Jean Joseph Mouret (1682-1738) Mouret was a French composer of ballets, operas and instrumental works. He was in the service of the Dutchess of Maine in Paris from about 1707 and composed his first ballets in 1714. This Rondeau was written by Mouret for the court of Louis XV, King of France, in his Symphonies and Fanfares for the King’s supper. Today, it is best known for it’s use as the theme for the Masterpiece Theatre, a popular British-made educational television series that first debuted January 10,1971 and still runs today. The Rondeau is an excellent example of an early rondo form (RARBR, where R appears at least three times). R is the main theme that is repeated between the A and B sections. This is very similar to the ABACA form. The martial (military) character of the Rondeau is achieved through the use of trumpet and timpani in the original manuscript. Fact: Rondeau is an early Rondo: ABACA WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (additional composer) (1756-1791) Born in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart was a child prodigy. He grew up to be one of the world’s greatest composers. Mozart’s father, Leopold, was an important musician in the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. He conducted the court orchestra and was a also a harpsichord and violin teacher. When Mozart was around three years old, he could barely reach the keyboard but showed great interest in Nannerl’s music lessons. (His sister who also was a child prodigy) Mozart was four when he had his first music lesson. A year later he started to write his own music, some of which were the Minuet in F, Trio in G and the melody of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He only had to hear a piece played once and he could replay it all from memory. Mozart went on his first concert tour at the age of six and kept performing, marrying Constanze at the age of 26. Mozart was the master of all musical forms and wrote many masterpieces including operas, symphonies, piano and violin concertos, string quartets, sonatas and others. His last composition, the Requiem Mass, was still incomplete when he died of typhoid at the age of 35. He was buried in a pauper’s grave. Fact: Mozart was a child genius, died at 35. ART EXAMPLES MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE AT SUNSET by Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) 1764 Before the Revolution, Fragonard followed Boucher (until 1752) then he won the Prix de Rome. He came from the town of Grasse in southeastern France, which was and is the center of the French perfume industry. Fragonard was a rapid and spontaneous painter. He was as skilled as his teacher Boucher in sharing his pleasure in young women and their bodies, but more alert to their emotions. A GAME OF HORSE AND RIDER by Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) 1767/73 From 18th century France. These boys benefit from a new attitude toward childhood, influenced by Rousseau, who argued that children should be left to follow their natural instincts. A YOUNG GIRL READING by Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) 1770-72 Fragonard’s handling of brushwork and color embodies eighteenth-century painting aesthetics. Each texture is rendered in a different brushstroke; Her dress a thick weave of yellow and white, the pillows more loosely sketched, and her collar edged with the handle of the brush. MISS JULIANA WILLOUGHBY by George Romney (1734-1802) British 1781-83 Romney's sure sense of formal values is evident here in the effective balance of figure and landscape. In this portrait Romney successfully adapted his composition to a change in the sitter's costume, X-rays show that Juliana originally wore a small, brimless cap. During the two years it took Romney to complete the portrait, Juliana, who was by then almost six years old, had outgrown her mobcap and wore, instead, this broad-brimmed bonnet. Like many of his contemporaries, Romney traveled to Italy, where he spent two years studying the work of Renaissance masters, in particular paintings by Titian and Raphael. The impact of these artists on his work can be seen in the simply expressed folds of Juliana's dress, the case and certainty of his outlines, and the artful balance of broad areas of color. MRS. THOMAS SCOTT JACKSON by George Romney (1734-1802) Painted between 1770-73 Portrays the wife of a director of the bank of England. Painted just before Romney’s trip to Italy, this earlier work pays tribute to Sir Joshua Reynold’s influence in its cool gray tonality, dignified posture, and complicated details. SEÑORA SABASA GARCÍA by Francisco de Goya: Spanish (1746-1828) 1806-1811 The years between Goya's appointment as first painter to the court of Charles IV and the Napoleonic invasion of 1808 were a time of great activity and financial security for the artist. He painted some of his finest portraits at that time, Señora Sabasa García and several others in the National Gallery's collection among them. In contrast with his earlier work, Goya dispensed with the setting entirely and treated the costume much more impressionistically. His brushwork merely suggested the gossamer qualities of the señora’s mantilla rather than defining its details. Señora Sabasa García was the niece of Spain’s minister of foreign affairs. THERESE LOUISE DE SUREDA by Francisco de Goya: Spanish (1746-1828) 1803-04 Although her portrait was painted in Spain, she epitomizes current French styles. Her hair is combed in the “antique” manner, and her empire armchair is decorated with “Egyptian” heads. Therese sits erect with a self-conscious propriety and does not rely on the chair’s back for support. Since she holds her arms close to her torso, her form is tightly confined. CLASSICAL TERMS RONDO: a composition with a prominent theme, reappearing at least three times SUITE: an instrumental composition consisting of a succession of short pieces forming a longer composition CONCERTO: an elaborate composition with orchestra and one or more solo instruments HARPSICHORD: ancestor of the piano in which the strings were plucked HARMONIC RHYTHM: The chords of a piece of music that work around the meter or beat BALLET: a dance that tells a story in pantomime STRING ORCHESTRA: a group of instruments compiled mainly of the stringed instruments, plus harpsichord or organ. A usual orchestra for Vivaldi. PRODIGY: someone who shows exceptional talent at an early age ROMANTIC (1800’s) “Romantic is expressive!” HISTORICAL FACTS The Romantic time period includes much of the 19th century. (1800’s) The Battle of Trafalgar established British superiority for over 100 years. 1805 Napolean was the dominant power on the European continent. Beethoven wrote his famous 5th symphony in 1808. War of 1812 confirmed American Independence. It lasted for over 2 years. Mexico was declared as independent. German confederation was estabilished in 1815. 1829 first U.S. passenger railroad opened. 1842 New York and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras were founded. 1848, Vienneese and French Revolution began 1865 Civil war ends and Lincoln assasinated.1879 Edison invents light bulb. Triple Alliance between Germany, Russia and Austria Germany. 1890 Eiffel tower completed in Paris. 1891 Yellowstone becomes first national U.S. park. 1892 Ellis Island opens for millions of immigrants to pass through its portals. 1893 Great Depression began in U.S. MUSICAL FACTS Development of more complicated harmonies. (Chromatic harmonies, changing keys, more complex chords, non-scale tones) There were new harmonies and added instruments to the orchestra. The older instruments were re-designed to be more flexible and by the end of Beethoven’s life, the piano became similar to what it is today. In fact, the piano became the major instrument. Melodies were more important (singable), and the form of the pieces were freer. Many composers treated the chorus as a division of the orchestra and used it to supply picturesque touches and supplementary colors. There were shorter pieces, many dance pieces. Romantic often features a focus on individual life, society and the interconnections of humantiy, nature and divinity. There was not a great emphasis on church music. On the whole, Romantic rhythms are less vital and less varied than those of the Classical period; interest is directed to the lyrical melody. Composers discussed: Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tschaikovsky Other composers: Schubert, Schumann Liszt, Wagner, Chopin, Haydn. MAIN COUNTRIES Partly because of the industrial revolution, the population of the Europe increased tremendously during the nineteenth century. The populations of both London and Paris quadrupled between 1800 and 1880. Consequently, the majority of people, including the majority of musicians, no longer lived in a community, a court or town, where everytbody knew everybody else and the open countryside was never very far away; instead, they were lost in the huge impersonal huddle of a modern city. GERMANY was the country in which Romanticism flourished most intensely and typlified the Romantic movement with the strong influence between music and literature. This especially is exhibited in German opera. FRANCE and ITALY were also centers for opera. The history of RUSSIAN music begins in 1836 with patriotic opera. Russian folk tunes tend to move within a narrow range and to be made up either of obsessive repetition of one or two rhythmic motives or of phrases in irregular rhythm. Fact: Industrial revolution, tremendous growth in population. ROMANTIC COMPOSITIONS FUER ELISE by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, the son of a singer (tenor). Before he was four, his father started to teach him to play the violin and piano. Ludwig could not remember the time when his father was not standing over him with a cane to rap his knuckles when he made a mistake. He made his debut as a piano virtuoso at the age of eleven and soon made a name for himself. Not until he was twenty-two and had moved to Vienna to study with Haydn (the famous Viennese composer), did his career as a composer get under way. He was hired by Prince and Princess Lichnowsky of Vienna, with an annual income and instruments to use for playing and composing. He would dress carelessly, come to meals late or not at all, would leave the piano in a huff if anyone talked while he played, and was quite sensitive to criticism. But his music made up for all shortcomings. By the time he was thirty-one, publishers were vying for his works. At thirty-one, another major event happened to Beethoven. He became painfully aware that he was growing deaf. He went through some major depression with this realization. He did not become totally deaf until his fiftieth year, but after 1804, (34 years old), the buzzing in his ears grew progressively worse. Even though he could not hear the music with his ears, he could hear it in his mind. In fact, it is remarkable that he composed some of his greatest works after becoming totally deaf. Beethoven would write the music right on paper as he heard it in his head, then he would perfect every measure, sitting at his messy desk. There are those who believe that it is because of Beethoven’s deafness that his genius burned so intensely and that he became a massive link between the Classic and the Romantic period composers. Fuer Elise is a Bagatelle (a short piece of music written in a light, airy style), written in 1810. It has the very familiar 1/2 step, (the closest distance between two notes on a piano), turn at the beginning of the main theme that runs throughout the piece. The A (main) theme occurs three times and two other sections (B and C), alternate between the A themes to make an ABACA form. Fact: Beethoven became gradually deaf after 34 yrs. old. Link between the Classic and Romantic periods. WALTZ in A Flat, Op.39, no.15 by Johnannes Brahms (1833-1897) Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, the son of a double bass player. His father instructed him at first and by the age of ten, Brahms had already made his debut as a pianist. Bach and Beethoven were the composers on whom he modeled his style and he modeled his song writing after Schubert, but he also played in the local taverns for the entertainment of sailors and their friends. He became great friends with Robert and Clara Schumann, other great musicians of his time. As he grew older, he performed less and less in public and devoted most of his time to composition. Brahms knew that he was at his best when he was working at a leisurely pace in his simple bachelor’s quarters, alone. He rose every day at 5 A.M., prepared his own coffee because nobody else brewed it strong enough to suit him, and set to work. Brahms was a painstaking composer, who worked over and over his pieces before he pronounced them finished. It was ten years from the time he started to write his First Symphony to the day when he allowed it to be published. Brahms has often been painted seated at a piano, a bulky figure with a flowing beard. As a pianist, he was described as a fluent and brilliant performer. The Waltz in A Flat, included on Classical Spice, written in 1865, was with a group of waltzes (a dance in 3/4 time), first written for four hands (two players), then for two hands (one player). The form is ABABA, with the main theme (A) repeated three times. On Classical Spice, a Bolero style (a type of Spanish dance), accompaniment is combined with the waltz, as the waltz and bolero have similar time signatures (3/4) and merge together extraordinarily. Brahms uses full chords (groups of notes played together), in his writing with many doublings in notes. Having a chordal melody, most often in thirds or sixths, is a common characteristic of his music. The Waltz in A Flat starts with the melody in sixths, then uses thirds and full chords in the rest of the piece to make the piano almost sound like the full orchestra by itself. (Compare this with the single-note melody Beethoven uses at the beginning of Fuer Elise, making it a light, airy piece) Fact: Brahms used many chordal melodies. ROMEO and JULIET by Peter Ilyich Tschaikovsky (1840-1893) Born in Russia to a nonmusical family. He was not encouraged in his musical education, but took piano lessons along with his schooling. He was described as a “porcelain child” by his first governess, sensitive and charming, but fragile. At nineteen, he became a clerk, but continued his music education in a chorus class and piano lessons. At twenty, he composed waltzes and polkas, (dances), which he did not write down, but started realizing that he had chosen the wrong career. He decided to no longer be a clerk but a musician in 1863 (23 years old). He found quickly that it was hard to exist as a musician and took on some private students while continuing to write and study. He suffered the first of many nervous breakdowns when his his First Symphony, which he had labored with passionate intensity, was denied a performance. He became engaged to an opera singer who ended up marrying someone else and the yearning Juliet theme of the Romeo and Juliet Overture, composed at this time, may have been inspired by this passing affair. When he was thirty-four, a psychopathic young woman proposed that he marry her. She went so far as to threaten suicide if he refused. To save her life he gallantly assented, but after two weeks of marriage it was he who tried to commit suicide by standing immersed to his neck in the icy waters of the Neva river, hoping to catch pneumonia. Tschaikovsky was perhaps the greatest symphonist after Beethoven, and certainly the most popular. He was considered by many to be the most expressive Romantic composer that Russia produced, as he produced some of the most passionate music. He wrote the famous Nutcracker Suite, a ballet that we see and hear so much at the holiday season. The Romeo and Juliet Overture was written in 1869. The version you are hearing on Classical Spice is a reduction of the complete orchestral score for piano, but an arrangement where you can hear the beautiful, haunting melody Tschaikovsky wrote. The Romeo and Juliet Overture has also played in several movies, including Wayne’s World. Fact: Tschaikovsky was a brilliant symphonist. Considered most expressive Russian Romantic composer. RONDO CAPRICCIOSO by Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Mendelssohn was born in Germany to a wealthy family. He seemed to have a lot going for him: looks, intelligence, sensitivity and loads of talent. His training was strict and he once said that he and his brother and sisters loved Sundays because on that day they did not have to get up to study at five in the morning! Felix played his first piano concert at nine, composed prolifically from the age of ten, and by the age of thirteen, was ready to conduct the Sunday morning musicals that were the delight of his youth. In the garden of their home on the outskirts of Berlin, friends, neighbors and musicians gathered to hear Felix play the piano, the viola, or the organ, and conduct his orchestra of brother, sisters and friends. He played his own compositions, too. The fairy strains of the Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, which he composed at seventeen, were first heard at one of these home concerts. Mendelssohn organized and became the director of the first German Conservatory of Music in Leipzig. He taught there himself and attracted to it a brilliant teaching staff. Besides teaching, he traveled frequently to give concerts and conduct the court orchestras. In perpetuating the ideals of Bach and Mozart, in encouraging the composers of his day, performing their music and in reviving neglected composers of the past, Mendelssohn did music a great service. The effortless flow, the glow and sparkle and delicacy and sweetness, the singing melodies, and fluency and polish of his own music are universally appealing. The Rondo Capriccioso is a character piece, a piece of keyboard music without any distinctive form or trait, and is very popular among most intermediate to advanced piano students. It starts with a very slow, expressive beginning, then bursts into Mendelssohn’s typical scherzo style; it’s light and fast, evenly moving and staccato (sharp, detached notes). There are sharp accents (emphasis on a certain note, chord or beat), on the off-beats and a very light texture. It is a beautiful, magnificent piece and the Fantasia-type arrangement on Classical Spice accentuates the staccato passages and the accents of the bass notes, contrasted with the smooth, almost orchestral sections. The Rondo Capriccioso is truly a piece that shows off the virtuosity of the pianist and shows us what a great pianist Mendelssohn must have been. Fact: Mendelssohn was a great melody writer and pianist. ART EXAMPLES THE DEAD TOREADOR by Edouard Manet, French 1832-1883 In 1864, Manet exhibited a large painting he called Episode from a Bullfight. Critics complained that its image of a fallen matador was out of proportion to the bull that had just gored him. At some point, Manet cut the painting apart, creating two smaller, more powerful works, this being one and the Bullfight, being the other. He repainted the background, extracting the figure from the context of the bullfight, and in so doing changed the nature of his painting. He uses rich, dark tones. THE OLD MUSICIAN by Edouard Manet, 1832-1883 1862 In the painting, Manet represented a strolling musician flanked by a gypsy girl and infant, an acrobat, an urchin, a drunkard, and a ragpicker--individuals the artist might have observed near his studio. Manet studied the urban poor with the careful neutrality of an unbiased onlooker. By placing pigments side by side rather than blending tones, Manet could preserve the immediacy and directness of preliminary oil studies in his finished works. Effects produced by this technique were sharper and crisper than those obtained with academic method. Future impressionists as Monet and Renoir admired his manner of paining and emulated Manet as they forged the style known as impressionism. FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French 1796-1875 1834 Corots career began in the late 1820’s when the academic tradition of ladscape painting was being revived. The Forest of Fontainebleau is a historic landscape devised to elevate the status of landscape painting by combining with it the subjects of history painting. Contemporaries readily identify the reclining woman in the foreground as Mary Magdalene. The artist’s humble attitude toward nature, responsive paint handling, and conscientious clarity and freshness of vision distinguish his work from the formulaic landscapes of academic contemporaries. His influence was manifest in the impressionistic painters. BRIDGE ON THE SAONE RIVER AT MACON by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1796-1875 1834 In May 1834 Corot set out on a six-month tour of northern Italy, traveling along the Mediterranean coast to Genoa, Pisa, and Volterra, and continuing to Florence and Venice. Classicist training and an innate disposition enabled him to integrate various studies in one well-ordered design, without strain or recourse to formulas. Corot became known as a painter of"historical" landscape. GYPSY GIRL WITH MANDOLIN by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1796-1875 1870 Posing models in costume or in the nude, Corot stressed their physical presence, defining their bodies with sculptural vigor and their costumes with strong color. In 1866-1870 he suffered attacks of gout that forced him to curtail travel and outdoor work. Confined to his Paris studio, he painted landscapes from memory and posed models in portraitlike arrangement. ITALIAN GIRL by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1796-1875 1872 In a series of interiors from 1865-1872, Corot represented young women in Italian costume seated in his studio, in solitary meditation before an easel that holds one of his "lyrical" landscapes. LADY WITH A HARP: ELIZA RIDGELY by Thomas Sully, American 1783-1872 1818 When Thomas Sully painted fifteen-year-old Eliza Ridgely, he was widely regarded as America’s leading artist. In painting Eliza, Sully emphasized her privileged social status as well as her delicate, youthful charm. The satin of her Empire gown is carefully described through fluid brushwork and brilliant highlights. ANDREW JACKSON by Thomas Sully, 1783-1872 1845 Sully was America's foremost exponent of the highly romanticized, painterly (use of color rather than lines to represent shapes or structure a composition), and fluid style of portraiture practiced by the two contemporary British artists he had most admired during his year of study in England, Sir Henry Raeburn and Sir Thomas Lawrence. Andrew Jackson represented a new era for many Americans, winning with the first popular vote taken. He was the first president not to come from original colonies. Jackson was considered a true popular hero and used his popularity to strengthen the presidency. THE VANDERKEMP CHILDREN by Thomas Sully, 1783-1872 1832 Although he painted many of the most prominent politicians, clergymen, and military heroes of his era, Sully's fame rests mainly on his exaggeratedly elegant and idealized portraits of fashionable society women, and, to a lesser extent, his sentimental group portraits of children and "fancy pictures." Often painted with a nearly flawless mastery of technique, these ultra-refined images are fundamentally decorative, and the deliberately self-conscious affectations of the sitters create a sense of artificiality that precludes the achievement of any penetrating psychological insight into their characters. This aesthetic, however, appealed greatly to the elite social stratum from which Sully drew his patrons, and earned him the status of being the most successful American portrait painter following the death of Gilbert Stuart in 1826, until his gradual decline in the 1850s. ROMANTIC TERMS BAGATELLE: a short piece of music written in a light, airy style 1/2 STEP: the closest distance between two notes on a piano CHORD: groups of notes played together CHROMATIC SCALE: going up or down by 1/2 steps, playing every note. SIXTH: in a standard musical scale, the interval between one note and another that lies five notes above or below it. THIRD: in a standard musical scale, the interval between one note and another that lies two notes above or below it. BOLERO: a type of Spanish dance in 3/4 time WALTZ: a dance in 3/4 time (count 1-2-3, 1-2-3...) SYMPHONY: a major work for an orchestra, including wind, string, and percussion instruments, usually composed in four movements, at least one of which is in sonata form. (having three sections) SYMPHONIST:somebody who composes symphonies or other musical works for symphony orchestra OVERTURE: a single orchestral movement that introduces an opera, play, ballet, or longer musical work, often including the work’s themes COMPOSITION: a created piece of music FORM: the structure of a piece of music ACCENT: stress placed on particular notes in a piece of music, or the symbol printed above the notes to indicate this stress CONSERVATORY: a school where students are taught music or drama to a professional standard CONDUCT: to lead a group of musicians or a musicial performance by signaling the beat with a baton or hand gestures, giving cues and offering suggestions for interpretation or expression. BASS NOTES: lowest notes in an instrumental or vocal piece. TENOR: High mens vocal part. Other parts include soprano, alto, baritone and bass. IMPRESSIONISTIC (1880-1900) “PAINTS A PICTURE” HISTORICAL FACTS Approximately 1880 to the end of the century. 1890 Eiffel tower completed in Paris. 1891 Yellowstone becomes first national U.S. park. 1888 George Eastman patented the hand held camera. 1889 The entire town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania was wiped off the map by a flood caused by the collapse of a dam. Engineers warned residents about an impending disaster, but the final break was so sudden that over 2,000 people lost their lives. The Japanese received their first written constitution. 1892 Ellis Island opens for millions of immigrants to pass through its portals. 1893 Great Depression began in U.S. 1903 Henry Ford began selling the "Model A" auto for $850. His goal was to manufacture reliable cars at a price all could afford. His mass production methods would soon change the automobile industry, and eventually the world. MUSICAL FACTS Impressionism is a style of composition designed to create descriptive impressions through rich and varied harmonies and sounds. The melodies are short and the rhythms are concealed by syncopations. Mood is very important. Paintings from this time period show what music does, as well. Up close the paintings have dots of paint, but far away, you can see the full picture. It creates an impression, just as the music does. Main composers: Debussy, Saint Saens. Other composers: Ravel, Satie, Faure. MAIN COUNTRY FRANCE The situation in France in the first quarter of the twentieth century presents a mixture of tradition, impressionism and anti-impressionism. The National Society for French Music was established in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The Society’s purpose was to encourage native composers, specifically by giving performances of their works. The entire movement was motivated by patriotism, consciously seeking to recover the characteristic excellences of the national music. It sought inspiration, however, not only in folk song but also in the revival of the great music of the past. The outcome was to raise France in the first half of the twentieth century once more to a leading position in music among the nations of the world. Fact: The National Society for French Music encouraged musicians of the day to perform their work. IMPRESSIONISTIC COMPOSITIONS MENUET from Suite Bergamasque by Claude Achille Debussy (1862-1918) Debussy was a Frenchman groomed by his father for a career in the French navy. Thanks to his musical godmother, Mme. Roustan, he started to take piano lessons when he was seven and progressed so well that he entered the Conservatoire in Paris when he was eleven. He remained at the Conservatoire for eleven contentious years. He obtained the highest honour in the Conservatoire’s gift, the Grand Prix de Rome in 1884, with a cantata, L’Enfant Prodigue (The Prodigal Son). The Suite Bergamasque was composed in 1890 and published in 1905. The four movements are Prelude, Menuet (usually a slow dance in 3/4 time), Clair de lune, (one of Debussy’s most popular and well-known pieces and his first example of Impressionistic Piano music), and Passepied. The bergamasque originated in the region of Bergamo, in northern Italy. “Bergamasque” implies the use of outlandish attire and clown costumes. Debussy uses the form of the baroque or classical suite (an instrumental composition consisting of a succession of short pieces forming a longer composition), in which Clair de lune takes the place of an aria or one of the slower dance forms. The Menuet is not for dancing as we know it, but is more free and imaginative, containing fresh and original rhythms and harmonies. The rhythms and harmonies that Debussy wrote come alive with the added rhythms and instrumentation on Classical Spice. You can almost see the costumes and dancing when playing through the menuet. The tempo marking is in 3/4, but the arrangement on Classical Spice uses 6 pulses per measure (you can count it 1+2+3+), as you can hear in the drum loop introduction. Notice the contrast in the legato passages (smooth) and staccato passages (sharp and detached) and how they alternate quickly and help to create the playful mood. The main theme that you hear at the beginning of the menuet runs throughout the whole piece, a masterful characteristic of classical music. This theme connects even the larger, grander section at the key change. The menuet ends playfully with a quiet glissando (where a finger slides up the keyboard from one note to another) to a single quiet note, octaves apart. Fact: Debussy won highest honors at the Paris Conservatoire. THE SWAN (Le Cygne) by Charles Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) Saint-Saens was a French composer, organist and pianist. He started composing by the age of seven and started performing before an audience at ten. In 1852, when he was seventeen, he entered the competition for the Prix de Rome, and lost. But the same year, his composition for voice and orchestra won first prize in Paris. In the early years of his career, he composed constantly and achieved fame as a virtuoso (one who has mastered his instrument). Saint-Saens composed piano and organ music, symphonies (for large orchestra groups), chamber music (for small orchestral groups), cantatas (a piece for choir with some drama), oratorios, songs and choral works, operas, a ballet (a dance that tells a story in pantomime), and arrangements. He also wrote a book of poems and various papers on scientific topics. The Swan is from the Carnival of The Animals, a Suite of short pieces (14 in all), for small orchestra, written in 1886 as a musical joke. After the first performance at a Paris carnival, Saint-Saens put the Suite in a drawer and forbade it’s further performances. Because he was an accomplished musician and composer, he felt this piece would give a comic view of his writing. The Swan (Le Cyne in French) is the most elegant of the pieces. If you use your imagination, you can hear the water flowing with the running sixteenth note arpeggios, (notes running up and down on chord tones), and the swan gracefully gliding with the beautiful theme that was originally written for a cello. Fact: Saint-Saens wrote the Carnival of the Animals as a joke. IMPRESSIONISTIC TERMS VIRTUOSO: a great musical artist, instrumentally or vocally MENUET: usually a slow dance in 3/4 time (also spelled “Minuet”) SUITE: an instrumental composition consisting of a succession of short pieces forming a longer composition ARPEGGIOS: notes running up and down on chord tones THEME: a melody that is repeated, often with variations, throughout a piece of music DYNAMICS: softs and louds of a piece ART EXAMPLES WOMAN WITH A PARASOL-MADAME MONET AND HER SON by Claude Monet, French 1840-1926 1875 Woman with a Parasol was painted outdoors, probably in a single session of several hours' duration. The artist intended this to look like a casual family outing rather than an artificially arranged portrait, using pose and placement to suggest that his wife and son interrupted their stroll while he captured their likenesses. The brevity of the fictional moment portrayed here is conveyed by a repertory of animated brushstrokes of vibrant color, hallmarks of the style Monet was instrumental in forming.Bright sunlight shines from behind Camille Monet to whiten up the top of her parasol and the flowing cloth at her back, while colored reflections from the wildflowers below touch her front with yellow. WOMAN SEATED UNDER THE WILLOWS by Claude Monet, 1840-1926 1880 THE SEINE AT GIVERNY by Claude Monet, 1840-1926 1897 From the early 1860s until 1889, not a single year passed that Monet did not paint the Seine. Its flower-strewn banks and watery reflections appear in nearly a quarter of all his paintings in the National Gallery. In 1896, though, he began a more systematic study of the river near his home at Giverny. Lured by the lifting haze and quickly changing light of early morning, he rose before sunrise -- at 3:30 a.m. -- to be at his easel by dawn. He worked from a flat-bottomed boat drawn up near the bank. But, as with his other series paintings, Monet only began the pictures outdoors, elaborating them over a period of months in his studio, taking special pains to adjust their light. These paintings, more precisely than his other series pictures, show the progression of time and the subtle changes in light as hours, even minutes, pass.Rather than focus on the trees, the line of the water, or sky, Monet subsumes shapes and reflections alike in the soft light. This picture shows the progression of time and the subtile changes in light as hours, even minutes, pass. JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE FLOWERS by Claude Monet, 1840-1926 1863/1880 There are practically no portraits and no figure paintings by Monet after the middle 1880s. THE DANCER by Auguste Renoir, French 1841-1919 1874 More than any of the Impressionists, he found beauty and charm in the modern sights of Paris. He does not go deep into the substance of what he sees but seizes upon its appearance, grasping its generalities, which then enables the spectator to respond with immediate pleasure. LANDSCAPE BETWEEN STORMS by Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919 1874/1875 A GIRL WITH WATERING CAN by Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919 1876 This displays a mature impressionist style attuned to the specific requirements of figure painting. Renoir’s colors reflect the freshness and radiance of the impressionist palette. Brilliant colors envelope the little girl in an atmosphere of warm light. Solid little girl though she is, she presents herself with the fragile charm of the flowers. Her sturdy little feet in their sensible boots are somehow planted in the garden, and the lace of her dress has a floral rightness; she also is decorative. With the greatest skill, Renoir shows the child, not amid the actual flowers and lawns, but on the path. It leads away, out of the picture, into the unknown future when she will longer be part of the garden but an onlooker, an adult, who will enjoy only her memories of the present now depicted. PICKING FLOWERS by Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919 1875 THE VINTAGERS by Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919 1879 HORSES IN A MEADOW by Edgar Degas, French 1834-1917 1871 FOUR DANCERS by Edgar Degas, 1834-1917 1899 One of the largest and most ambitious of his late works. Exists in several variants that show different kinds and degrees of modification. While Degas suppressed descriptive detail elsewhere in the painting, emphatic dark lines shape the heads and arms, underlining the artist's formal concerns. Theatrical lighting over the off-stage performers recolors the figures and creates a simple color scheme of complementary red-orange and green hues. In Four Dancers, Degas used oils to imitate the color effects and matte surface of pastels. GIRL IN WHITE by Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch 1853-1890 1890 In 1889, he became a voluntary patient at the St. Remy asylum, where he continued to paint, often making copies of artists he admired. His palette softened to mauves and pinks, but his brushwork was increasingly agitated, the dashes constructed into swirling, twisted shapes, often seen as symbolic of his mental state. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. His paintings became popular after his death. Van Gogh committs suicide in 1890. ROSES by Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch 1853-1890 1890 Van Gogh was largely self-taught as an artist, although he received help from his cousin, Mauve. His first works were heavily painted, mud-colored and clumsy attempts to represent the life of the poor. He moved to Paris in 1886 where he discovered color as well as the divisionist ideas which helped to create the distinctive dashed brushstrokes of his later work IMPRESSIONISTIC TERMS VIRTUOSO: a great musical artist, instrumentally or vocally MENUET: usually a slow dance in 3/4 time (also spelled “Minuet”) SUITE: an instrumental composition consisting of a succession of short pieces forming a longer composition ARPEGGIOS: notes running up and down on chord tones THEME: a melody that is repeated, often with variations, throughout a piece of music DYNAMICS: softs and louds of a piece OCTAVE: 8 notes apart (C to C, D to D) GLISSANDO: where a finger slides up the keyboard from one note to another TEACHER’S STUDY GUIDE MASTER GLOSSARY OF TERMS (used in study notes) ACCENT: emphasis on a certain note, chord or beat ALLEGRO: a high rate of speed. Many times describes a whole movement of a piece ARPEGGIOS: notes running up and down on chord tones ART SONG: solo song with accompaniment (any instrument) BAGATELLE: a short piece of music written in a light, airy style BALLET: a dance that tells a story in pantomime BOLERO: a type of Spanish dance in 3/4 time CANTATA: a piece for choir with some drama, almost a small oratorio CHAMBER MUSIC: pieces written for small orchestral groups CHORD: groups of notes played together CHROMATIC SCALE: going up or down by 1/2 steps, playing every note. CONCERTO: an elaborate composition with orchestra and one or more solo instruments DYNAMICS: softs and louds of a piece FANFARE: a trumpet call FORM: the melodic and rhythmic pattern of the piece FUGUE: where one or more melodies (themes) are repeated in many different ways, at different times GLISSANDO: where a finger slides up the keyboard from one note to another HARPSICHORD: ancestor of the piano in which the strings were plucked 1/2 STEP: the closest distance between two notes on a piano IMPROVISATION: making up music as you go along LEGATO: smooth MAJOR KEY: Includes a major third. A “happy key” MELODY: a succession of notes MENUET: usually a slow dance in 3/4 time (also spelled “Minuet”) MINOR KEY: Includes a minor third. A “sad key” OPERA: a musical drama where the story is completely sung with acting and props ORATORIO: a musical composition with a sacred theme with no action or scenery POLKA: dance (oom-pah type) RONDO: a composition with a prominent theme, reappearing at least three times RHYTHM: the meter (beat) of music, usually in 3,4, 6 or 9 beats SONATA: a piano or other solo instrumental piece with several movements STACCATO: sharp and detached SUITE: an instrumental composition consisting of a succession of short pieces forming a longer composition SYMPHONY: piece written in several movements for large orchestra groups TEMPO: How fast or slow a piece is played TIME SIGNATURE: Numbers at the beginning of a piece, 4/4, 3/4, etc... VIRTUOSO: a great musical artist, instrumentally or vocally WALTZ: a dance in 3/4 time (count 1-2-3, 1-2-3...) STUDY QUESTIONS (customize for grade level) What composer went deaf? Beethoven What composers went blind? Bach, Handel Who was studying law? Handel What piece was written as a musical joke? “The Swan” from Carnival of the Animals Who wrote the Four Seasons and for what instruments? Vivaldi for String orchestra Who was a virtuoso on the violin? Vivaldi Who had 20 children? JS Bach Who had to get up at 5 A.M. to study? Mendelssohn Where did Mendelssohn first perform a theme from a Midsummer Nights Dream? his backyard What oratorio is Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from? Messiah What was CPE Bach’s relationship to JS Bach? his son Who was more famous in his lifetime, JS or CPE Bach? CPE Bach What TV show has the Rondeau by Mouret been featured on? Masterpiece Theatre What type of musical and dance piece is the Nutcracker Suite? ballet What type (or form), of piece was Jesu Joy taken from? a cantata Who liked to brew his own coffee? Brahms Who was known better as a great organist, not just a composer? JS Bach What country was Tschaikovsky from? Russia The Water Music by Handel was played by how many musicians on the barge for the King? fifty Who played at local taverns? Brahms What time period ended with the death of JS Bach? Baroque Mood and art are very important during what time period? (clue: blurry up close, but a beautiful picture far away) Impressionism Instruments, especially the piano, became close to what they are today during what time period? Romantic During what time period is the music simple, light and free-flowing? Classical What impressionistic artist committed suicide? Van Gogh Who painted a number of self-portraits? Rembrandt What painting was cut in half because it was so large? The Dead Toreador Which president did Thomas Sully paint? Andrew Jackson *this is a start for study questions. These can be customized for grade level. EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES DANCE and MOVEMENT Menuet by Debussy Waltz by Brahms Swan by Saint Saens Romeo and Juliet by Tschaikovsky Rent a ballet video to explain how dance and music go together. (Such as the Nutcracker Suite) With younger grades, having students move in time with the music and the instructor tell a story as you go along works very well to open up imaginations and individual creativity. With older grades, students should tell their own story with the movement. ART Spring by Vivaldi Swan by Saint Saens *Drawing pictures describing what students see as they listen to the music is not only fun, but helps to train the ear to listen to how music can effect our moods and emotions. As a further project, listening to other parts of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi and other animals portrayed in the Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens would further enhance art projects and music appreciation. STORY and THEATRE Rondo Capriccioso by Mendelssohn *Create your own “Fantasia” (Disney style), story from listening to all of the different parts of the Rondo Capriccioso. There is so much dynamic contrast (louds and softs), that this project would be very fun and creative. For older grades, they could actually make up story boards, just like they would be planning a movie or cartoon. Art websites: www.nga.gov -- www.artchive.com