20th Century Music History LAST TEST

Neo-Romanticism, Sacred Minimalism, Part, Gubaidulina, Tavener

iron curtain

term of Winston Churchill regarding relationship between democracy and communism.

behind it emerged emotional expressionism

Cold War

over 40 years of indirect conflict between US and USSR

Mikhail Gorbachev

• first Soviet President 1985

• non-repressive, set downfall of communism into motion

• Perestroika: restructuring of communist government, Soviet Union

• Glasnost: openness towards the west

• 5 summits (high-level gatherings) with Pres. Ronald Reagan

Berlin Wall

built during reign of USSR and Cold War, surrounding democratic West Berlin 1961-1989

Boris Yeltsin

President of Russia who blocked communist re-coup of USSR

Gubaidulina

• studied composition at Moscow

• “Offertorium”

• “In tempus praesens” (Violin Concerto No.2)

“Offertorium”

• Gubaidulina

• concerto for violin and orchestra

• based on Bach’s “Musical Offering”

  • set of preludes and fugues passed through orchestra

  • religio: to connect

  • Fibonacci sequence: 1+1=2+1=3+1=4, 1+2=3+2=5+2=7

  • Bach sequence B A C Bb

  • Golden ratio (A+B)/A=A/B

“In tempus praesens” (Violin Concerto No. 2)

• Gubaidulina

• single continuous movement/concerto for violin and orchestra

• 5 sections that meet at one unison note

Arvo Part

• pioneer of Eastern European minimalism: atonality, serialism, avant garde

• “Pro et Contra”

• “Credo”

• “Fur Alina”

• “Spiegel im Speigel”

• “Tabula Rasa”

“Pro et Contra”

• Part

• cello concerto

“Credo”

• Part

• "in your face” Christianity

• turning point, collage style

“Fur Alina”

• Part

• piano solo

• uses Tintinnabuli

tintinnabuli

• Part technique

• 3-note triadic figure for bell-like sound

• 2 simultaneous voices as 1 line, one moving stepwise to and from central pitch (melodic), another sounding triad notes (tintinnabuli)

“Spiegel im Spiegel”

• Part

• chamber piece, melodic instrument (usually violin) and piano, 6/4

• “Mirror in the Mirror”

“Tabula Rasa”

• Part

• “Blank Slate” - Latin for erased tablet

• 2 movements, double concerto, 2 violins and orchestra

  • “Ludus”: “Game”, alternating silence and canon variations. melodic voice plays notes of minor scale and tintinnabuli arpeggiates

  • “Silentium”: “Silence”, V-I impression, canon by rhythmic speeds

    • called “angel music” for AIDS patients by critic Alec Ross

John Tavener

• exclusively neo-romanticism, unlike others who converted. all sacred

• “The Whale”

• “The Lamb”

• “The Akathist of Thanksgiving”

• “The Protecting Veil”

• “Song for Athene”

• “Fall and Resurrection”

• “The Veil of the Temple”

“The Whale”

• Tavener

• story of Jonah, neo-romantic

• produced with Ringo Starr’s Apple Records

“The Lamb”

• Tavener

• choral piece on text by William Blake

“The Akathist of Thanksgiving”

• Tavener

• Thanksgiving celebration, 1,000 years of Russian Orthodox Church

• 11 musical sections, each with Kontakion and Ikos

  • Kontakion: long liturgical poem. Greek for “from the pole” - text wound around pole on parchment paper to be read and sung

  • Ikos: stanza from within a different kontakion

“The Protecting Veil”

• Tavener

• for cello and orchestra

• 8 sections, each based on ikon (oil painting depictions) of Mary’s life

“Song for Athene”

• Tavener

• orthodox funeral service, Shakespeare’s Hamlet

• in memory of Athene Hariades

“Fall and Resurrection”

• Tavener

• choral, complex depiction of creation, biblical history

• requires extended orchestra with ancient instruments ex. ram’s horn, Tibetan bowls

“The Veil of the Temple”

• Tavener

• 8 cycles, each about an hour long, that can stand alone or even be separated into lone movements

• his personal supreme achievement

• 4 choirs, several orchestras

• an Orthodox all-night vigil

“Symphony No. 3”

• Gorecki

• “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”

• 3 movements

  • 1st: 15thc. Polish lament of Mary

  • 2nd: message on wall of Gestapo (secret Nazi police force) cell during WWII

  • 3rd: Silesian folk song of mother searching for son killed by Germans

• evident themes of motherhood, despair, suffering

St. John’s Passion

• Part

• compared to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, minimalist and focused on a few voices, more introspective compared to elaborate double orchestra, choir, soloists