Music History III quiz 3 pieces

Backwater Blues

It was written by Bessie Smith in 1927 in US. The piece is in 12-bar blues form. It is an example of classical blues. The harmonic progression is I I I I IV IV V IV I. Instruments improvise off of the melody when she stops singing which creates a call and response texture(influence from African Music).The melody goes down. It uses Blue Notes which is using flat 3, 5, and 7. Typically classical blues themes are about Sexuality and Feminism.

West End Blues

It was performed by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928 in the US. It uses 12 bar blues in terms of harmony and it is an example how that form is used in jazz. It is a variations on the existing tune. It opens with a solo by Louis Armstrong The original tune was by King Oliver. It uses a form of variations then a chorus of the original tune. Each section features a virtuosic solo for each instrument or group of instruments

Cotton Tail

It was written by Duke Ellington in 1940. It was originally written to highlight the skill of Tenor sax player Ben Webster. It opens with the opening tune followed by a bunch of choruses over the same chord progression. The tune is borrowed from Gershwin’s I got Rhythm but it is changed significantly. the melody is varied. For the first couple of chorus, the tenor sax is featured as a soloist with the rhythm section. It also uses the call and response form.

Symphony Mathis Der Maler Movement II

It was written in 1934 in Germany by Hindemith First an opera, then a symphony – the latter his best-
known work
• Based on the life of Matthias Grünewald, painter of the
famous 16th-century Isenheim Altarpiece.
• Plot
• Mathis leaves his calling as a painter to join the peasants in their
rebellion against the nobles (German Peasants’ War of 1525 – they lost)
• Ultimately comes to realize that abandoning his art was betraying his
gift and true obligation to society
• Neo-Romantic style
• Less dissonant counterpoint
• Clearer tonality
• “Harmonic fluctuation”: consonant chords gradually combined into
tension and dissonance, then are resolved either suddenly or gradually.
• Example: Symphony Mathis der Maler, movement II

Symphony No. 5, Movement III

It was written in 1937 by Dmitri Shostakovich in Soviet Union. It was written as a reaction/response to the criticism of his earlier work Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District for its modernistic musica language and realistic violence and sex. This piece was his response to the fear of being purged aka killed for writing in an Anti-Soviet style. The third movement has a tone of bitterness and mourning. It is in a more accessible style for the Soviet Government. Many scholar read into the meanings behind the work. Some interpret this movement as funeral for the victims of the Stalin purges. It has influences from Romantic and Classical composers, and traditional Russian funeral music.

String Quartet 1931 IV Finale

It was written in 1931 by Ruth Crawford Seeger. It wont her the Guggenheim price. It is in a conventional four movements, but she uses a new procedure in each movement. This movement is on gigantic counterpoint between the first Violin and the rest of the ensemble. As the violin phrase grows, the other phrase strinks and vice versa. There is a climax in the middle with the violin having a long phrase and then the process starts over until the violin is back to the smallest phrase. It is a piece driven by this modernist concept. She loved dissonant counterpoint so it is a building block of the piece. It is a musical palindrome. It is an ultra modernist piece.

Appalachian Spring

It was written by Aaron Copland in 1944. It was originally a ballet but then it was mostly performed as an orchestral suite. The original choreography was by Martha Graham. It won the pulitzer price for Copland. It uses variations on the Shaker hymn Tis the Gift to Be Simple/ The style developed in this piece which using widely spaced sonorities, starkly empty fifths and octaves, and diatonic dissonances has a huge influence on the rise of his musical output.

Peter Grimes Act III Scene 2 “To hell with all your mercy!”

It was written in 1945 by Benjamin Britten. Established Britten’s international reputation
• First English opera since Purcell to become part of the international operatic
repertoire
• Story – a fisherman who is loathed by other villagers, is pursued by a mob, and
ultimately driven to suicide
• Individual persecuted by the crowd  allegory for the hostility towards
homosexuals in British society
• Grimes is not a sympathetic character – he is deeply flawed
• But the audience is meant to see themselves in the crowd – a hateful group that
unthinkingly persecutes outsiders, driven by misinformation, suspicion, and hatred.
• Final scene
• Catharsis through tragedy
• Bitonality to paint the scene! He is in C major and the ensemble is singing in A major.

Quatuor pur la fin du monde

It was written by Olivier Messiaen in 1942 while in was in a Prisoner of War camp. The Guards gave him and other musicians instruments when they learned he was a musician. It is written for cello, clarinet, violin, and piano. nspired by the biblical prophecy of the Apocalypse
• “In homage to the Angel of the Apocalypse, who raises his hand
to the heavens and says, ‘There will be no more Time.’”
• Stasis  Contemplation  the negation of Desire
• Musical language – I. Liturgie de cristal
• Birdsong
• Modes of limited transposition
• Additive rhythm: feeling the pulse in the smallest value so no meter!
• “When we respond to music metrically, we are in our bodies.
When we attend instead to durations, we are in the realm of
time, ruled by the divine.”
• Rhythmic pedal
• Beautiful timbres and harmonic color – synaesthesia!

All Set

It was written by Milton Babbit in 1957 for Jazz ensemble. It uses a 12 element series aka it is dodecaphonic. He uses the Schoenberg approach of Combinatoriality which uses two hexachord together which are based off of the same set. the score us saxophones, trumpet, trombone, bass drum, drum set, vibraphone, and piano.

Le marteau sans maître,
movement VI, “Bourreaux de solitude”

It was written in 1955 by Pierre Boulez in France. It has 9 short movements from a cycle of surrealist poem by rené Char. it was written for voice and chamber ensemble. The text is sparse or pointillistic. He uses a row of dynamics applying the six dynamics to the 12 pitches in the row. It starts with fortissimo on C to Pianissimo on B, but it isnt organized as a scale so the row is less obvious. It uses Vibraphone, Xylorimba, percussion, guiatr, viola, alto voice, and flute. It is an example of total serialism.