Unit 9

 

Romantic Opera-Chapter 18

Step 1

 

  • Read Chapter 18: "Romantic Opera" from Listen 8th ed. using the textbook or ebook

  • Listen to chapter examples using the streamed format located in Launchpad

  • Store notes in your Unit 9 ePortfolio

Step 2

  • Submit these on-line quizzes through Launchpad

  • Store the results from these assessments in your ePortfolio using screen shots

1. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 18 using the Listen Site Reading Quiz

2. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 18 using the Listen Site Listening Quiz

 

  
Opera

Step 1

  • Provide a scene summary for the Anvil Chorus from Verdi's Il Trovatore. It shows the Spanish Gypsies striking their anvils at dawn (there you go... the English name), and the singing of praise of hard work, good wine, and Gypsy women. 

 

Step 2

  • Provide a scene summary for the Opera Ballet from Verdi's Aida. It looks like it's this whole drama thing around Ancient Egypt, but it's much simpler than that. It's about this story of love and imperial power-- your typical entertainment. Act I is in the royal palace of Memphis, and it has Radamès, and Egyptian officer, who loves Aida, an Ethiopian slave of the princess Amneris. Act II happens in the palace of Thebes, where they receive news of a war victory over Ethiopia. Act III happens on the bank of the Nile, and Amneris enters the temple of Isis to prepare for her wedding. Act IV happens in the hall of judgement, a tomb below the temple. Amneris tries to convince Radamès that she can save him... and here's the twist... he must... MARRY her!

 

Step 3

  • What musical elements are used to create the celebratory mood heard in Verdi's Triumphal March from Aida?

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.) The celebratory mood is really enhanced by the major key that we start in. The accompaniment is really... shocking. The trumpets do what trumpets do. Forte. We have a march-like feel, as well as a really quick tempo. There are little dynamic changes, other than the big downbeats that seem to swell. There is a passing of music from the flutes and strings between each other, which gives their staccato a notable feel. 

 

Step 4

  1. What is a Leitmotiv? A leitmotiv is a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular idea or situation. 

  2. What instrument/instrument family is used for the Valkyrie motif? Brass. Big whoop. 

  3. Describe how Leitmotifs are used to elevate the story in the Lord of the Rings. Leitmotifs are often used to give a character his own distinct presence in the movies. Each time we hear a particular tune, we're supposed to associate it with a character, which can be very hopeful or foreboding, depending on the situation. For example, there is a "Hobbit" theme, which is always in a major key (I think), and it's a happy-dappy tune. As characters fracture into their own parties, we hear a reflection in the music. When they come together, as in the "Fellowship" theme, we get big crescendos and building of themes. 

  4. Create your very own Leitmotiv using the template from this Wagnerian Leitmotiv Project. 

 

 

Step 5

  • Define Music Drama/Gesamtkunstwerk with regards to Wagner' Ring Cycle.

Gesamtkunstwerk is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. From the Ring Cycle, it's a story of love and pain. I saw a lot of pain in that video--we have a cohesive story arc, with swells in the heroic moments, and diminuendos when someone looks like they're toast. The patterns followed are similar to that of any composition... very pretty in the beginning, with a flow-like sound and a very satisfying resolution. 

 

 
What's Opera Doc?

Step 1

  • Enjoy the following 3 Bugs Bunny Excerpts

  1. What's Opera Doc?

  2. The Rabbit of Seville

  3. Bugs Bunny Opera

 

America during the Romantic Period

Step 1

  • Listen to the 3 examples below to answer the following questions

  1. Share your overall impression of Romantic Period music from American Music during this time period. The first thing I noticed is that it was in a common, or simple meter. Everything seems to be upbeat and march-like. I assume that this was because of the war that was going on, and it was supposed to brings sprits (the alcoholic type, too) up. 

  2. How does it sound similar to the European compositions? I think that they have very similar sounds... they use a lot of strings and woodwinds. European compositions were full of embellishments, just like the American ones. 

  3. How does it sound different from European compositions? The European music had more of rhythm and time signature. Right now, it seems that the American music is really timid, and fits in something you'd expect American music to sound like. There isn't much orchestral music in America, just soloist traditional folk music. European music also had a lot centered around classical-oriented piano. 

A. Battle Hymn of the Republic

B.  Dixie Land

C.  Fife and Drum

 

 
The Late Romantics-Chapter 19

Step 1

  • Read Chapter 19: "The Late Romantics" from Listen 8th ed. using the text book or ebook

  • Listen to chapter examples using the streamed format located in Launchpad

  • Store notes in your Unit 9 ePortfolio

 

Step 2

  • Submit these on-line quizzes through Launchpad

  • Store the results from these assessments in your ePortfolio using screen shots

1. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 19 using the Listen Site Reading Quiz

2. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 19 using the Listen Site Listening Quiz

 

 

 
Romantic Evening

Step 1

  • What musical elements give Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture a nationalistic/patriotic feeling?

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.) The strong duple meter indicates a nationalistic feeling... the fact that doesn't swing gives us a fast tempo, which is perfect for those heartfelt patriots. If you can march to it, it's perfect. There are a lot of strong attacks, and there are lovely bells at the end of the piece. 

 

Step 2

  • Describe the connection between the music and the choreography in Tchaikovsky's March from the Nutcracker. The dancers are separated by male and female, which is rather like the music that's playing. The women only come in when the flutes are apparent and play 'em high notes. All the dancers dance on the duple meter, and accentuate every strong downbeat. When the trumpets join, they start jumping, and their feet move a lot quicker when the scales are being played. 

 

Step 3

  • How does the composer connect the music to the story/image in Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain? The suspense comes from the zooming in on the ghostly figures that are creeping around, and the ebbs and flows of the music really highlights this. As new phrases are introduced, there are different things going on in the story. At the end, when there are bursts of flames, the music crescendos and goes back to the pattern of suspense when the flames eventually die down. 

 

Step 4

  • Describe how dynamics & tempo are used to heighten emotion in Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King. The piece starts off slowly, with a low timbre and feel. It's moderately quiet, and as the piece goes on, more instruments are included and the dynamics have more to do with the piece. As the piece increases in volume, the tempo goes up, too. In the end, it's a whole mash of loud and quick, which is rather terrifying. 

 

Step 5

  • Use THIS LINK or the Julie Drive the access the Billy Joel Folder/Music Source File

  • Provide a summary of Billy Joel's process and 'classical influences' in creating Lullaby(Goodnight My Angel). It was originally written as a piano pice, and he stole the ending from a famous greek piece. The first time he wanted to write his own ending, he thought it too pompous and pretentious. He wanted it to be part of a suite, but he thought it was too... lovely. It would be better as a lullaby, which it was. 

 

  • Bonus:  Find the title of the composition by Edvard Grieg that inspired Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel) Lookie this!

 

Step 6

  • Provide a brief narrative explaining proper audience etiquette to include suggested do's and don'ts, advice on when to clap and when to not clap, etc. 

- Turn off your phones and your other electronics. 

- Take your crying babies out of here before they make a ruckus for everyone. In fact, refrain from bringing your child if you know they cannot sit through a long performance. 

- DO NOT COUGH. EVER.

- Be at your seat at least 10-15 minutes before the curtain opens. 

- Do not bring food into the auditorium/performance space. 

- Remain in your seat until after intermission. 

- Clap when the concertmaster comes onto the stage, with or without possible soloist. Only applaud when the concertmaster has finished the piece and turns to acknowledge the audience. 

 

Step 7

Enjoy these animated inspirations

 

 

 

 

HONORS TRACK

In Our Own Back Yard

Use LINK 1 &  LINK 2  to answer the following:

  • Provide a brief historical overview of the Vermont Symphony. In 1934, a group of music enthusiasts met in Woodstock and talked to each other, deeming it possible to create a statewide orchestra. Their conductor at the time was called Alan Carter, who had just come from a musical school abroad. He enthusiastically began looking for musicians in the fall of 1934. The musicians, whose numbers included barbers, lawyers, mail carriers, doctors, and farmers came from all across Vermont. With around 40 annual performances statewide in concert halls, beautiful natural settings, and historic and community buildings, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra has proven its value and sustainability, not only as the nation’s oldest state-assisted orchestra, but as one of the finest of its size. 

  • List locations included in the TD Bank 2018 Summer Festival Tour. Barrre, Burlington, Rutland, Newport, Warren, Grafton, Manchester, etc. 

  • Provide a brief background of the guest conductor. Noted in the New York Times as part of "a new wave of female conductors in their late 20's through early 40's", Sarah Hicks's versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place in "the next generation of up-and-coming American conductors". A committed proponent of the performance of new music, Ms. Hicks recently completed a Microcommission Project (the first of its kind) with the Minnesota Orchestra in which hundreds of people made microdonations to fund a major new work by composer Judd Greenstein. Sarah Hicks was born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Honolulu, HI.  Trained on both the piano and viola, she was a prizewinning pianist by her early teens.  She received her BA magna cum laude from Harvard University in composition; her AIDS Oratorio was premiered in May of 1993 and received a second performance at the Fogg Art Museum the following December.  She holds an Artists' Degree in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with renowned pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller.

  • Provide historical background for 7 of the 14 program choices. 

- Frühlingsstimmen: Strauss dedicated the work to the pianist and composer Alfred Grünfeld. The famous coloratura soprano Bertha Schwarz (stage name Bianca Bianchi) sang this concert aria at a grand matinée charity performance at the Theater an der Wien in aid of the "Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth Foundation for Indigent Austro-Hungarian subjects in Leipzig". The waltz was not a great success at its premiere, but was more successful when performed on Strauss' tour of Russia in 1886. A piano arrangement by the composer contributed much to its success beyond Vienna. Grünfeld, the work's dedicatee and a pianist and composer in his own right, also wrote and recorded his own concert transcription of the work for solo piano.

- Claire de Lune:  Its origins are complex and fascinating, combining influences from poetry, the music of the Baroque period (from around 1600 to 1750), and Impressionism, a style in music following on from that in visual arts. The piece’s title, meaning “moonlight”, was added shortly before its publication in 1905 as the third movement of a four-part work called Suite Bergamasque. The title comes from a poem of the same name, published in 1869, by the Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine. Debussy had already set this poem for voice and piano twice before, along with 18 other Verlaine poems. The poem speaks of “au calme clair de lune triste et beau” (the still moonlight sad and lovely).

- Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning): Some of the characteristics of the polka appear in music performed by and written for Bohemian village musicians around 1800. Aside from this, the dance's origins are obscure. A couple-dance in 2/4 meter, it seems the polka developed in Bohemia as a type of round-dance with three short, heel-and-toe half-steps on the first three half-beats and a rest on the fourth. The name may be derived from the Czech pulka (half) or polska, the Czech word for a Polish girl. Whatever its origins, it is certain that the polka first appeared in Prague in 1837. The dance was exported to Vienna in 1839 by a Bohemian regiment band, precipitating its rapid spread throughout Europe. Possibly the noisiest of Strauss' dance pieces, Unter Donner und Blitz evokes the sound of thunder and lightning through incessant timpani rolls and cymbal crashes. In the first half of section A, a loud timpani roll occurs every four measures, while the cymbals crash on each beat of the detached descending melody of the second half. Drum answers cymbal in the arching woodwind tune that begins section B, moving the accent to the second beat of the measure. Clearly, Strauss sought to amuse as much as compose a successful piece of music.

- Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture: With a performance history going back over 300 years, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" may have been written by a Russian to commemorate a new cathedral, but today it is perhaps most well known as a musical symbol of America's independence. Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler was no doubt inspired by the overture's exhilarating musical structure when he decided to include it as part of his 1974 Independence Day performance. In addition, Fiedler choreographed fireworks, cannons, and a steeple bell choir to the overture. Since then, orchestras all over the U.S. quickly followed suit, and it is now a tradition to perform the overture during Independence Day celebrations.

- Handel, arr. Harty – Water Music: The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.

- Grainger: "Country Gardens" is an English folk tune collected by Cecil Sharp from the playing of William Kimber and arranged for piano in 1918 by Percy Grainger. In 2008,[1] "Country Gardens" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry.

- Tchaikovsky, Valse-Scherzo: The origins of the Valse-Scherzo are somewhat mysterious. It seems to have been written in January-February 1877; this has been surmised from a letter of 3 February 1877 from Iosif Kotek to Tchaikovsky, which is the first documentary evidence of its existence. A perfect companion piece for the Sérénade, the Valse-scherzo shows Tchaikovsky's lighter side. In the second half of the 19th century, the waltz was all the rage all over Europe (including Russia). In the Valse-scherzo, the waltz becomes a vehicle for the violin soloist, with abundant double-stops and other virtuoso fireworks

  • What percentage of their programming comes from Romantic Period Literature? Tchaikovsky, Smetana, Strauss, and Saint-Saëns were all composers during the Romantic Era that made an appearance in the VSO.

 

Friendly Reminder......

 

 

Book Reviews are submitted as part of the Final Exam. okie dokie :)