Music history exam 2 3-26

La traviata

Italian opera written in 1853 by Giuseppe Verdi. It tells the story of a woman named Violetta who gives up her career as an artisan to marry a man named Alfredo and the two endure many challenges after Alfredo’s father tricks her into leaving him.

Act III sees Alfredo’s father repenting and Violetta being very ill from tuberculosis, eventually dying at the end of the scene.

German romantic opera

• Usually serious: psychological drama and mythological themes.

• Unstructured scenes (through-composed and nothing like a da capo aria)

• Continued melodic development

• No recitative/aria division

Gesamtkunstwerk

The name Wagner used for the total whole or collective artwork of a piece. Wagner believed recordings didn’t do his works justice because it didn’t include the combination of music, poetry, scenic design, staging, and action.

Lietmotif

Themes that are repeated and referenced throughout a piece often to tell a story.

Tristan chord

A famous dissonant chord consisting of the pitches F B D# and G#. Used to obscure a sense of tonic and avoid harmonic resolution.

Tristan und Isolde

A work by Richard Wagner written between 1857–1859. Tells the story of a man named Tristan and a woman named Isolde who escape a death plot by drinking a love potion and falling in love with each other, even though Isolde is married to Melot. They try to keep their relationship a secret but are caught and Tristan is wounded and eventually dies.

German and Austrian opera

Works with extreme chromaticism and large colorful orchestras.

Thematic transformation

A term for when melodic material is transformed in order to convey a certain theme. This often ties back to programmatic music where the music was literally trying to tell a story or convey specific events, often accompanied by program text to help with this goal. Developed by Liszt and mastered by Brahms.

Don Quixote

A tone poem written in 1897 by Richard Strauss. Contains two main themes which are explored and developed throughout the various variations.

National traditions

• Rose to prominence in responce to German romanticism

• Composers’ intentional use of national themes

• Folk melodies

• Modal harmonies

• Folk dance rhythms

• Literature and mythology

• Like programmatic music, better understood from the composer’s intent rather than audience’s perceptions

Russian mighty five

Leaders of the late 19th century nationalism movement. Consisted of Alexander Borodin, Modest Musorgsky, Mily Balakirev, Cesar Cui, and Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Tchaikovsky was not apart of it due to his lack of nationalism and willingness to incorporate ideas from western culture.

Mighty five innovations

Use of qualities from Russian folk songs like modal and exotic scales along with folk polyphony.

Pictures at an exhibition

A ten movement piano suite written in 1874 by Mussorgsky and orchestrated by Ravel. Based on paintings by a Russian artist and demonstrates many of the innovations associated with the mighty five.

Antonin Dvorak

A Czech nationalist composer whose Slavonic dances use European dance rhythms. Had much influence in the US where he encouraged composers to use their folk music (I.e. spirituals) as a basis for classical music

Gaelic symphony

A piece written by Amy Cheney Beach in 1894. Good example of an American composition based in the German romantic tradition and folk music from the British isles.