ARCT - Composers

Schubert Musical Style

- combines Classical and Romantic traits

- Classical traits (sonata form, symmetrical phrase structures, symphony/sonata/piano trio/string quartet)

- Romantic traits (chromatic harmony, tonalities, modulations, CULTIVATION OF LIED)

- influenced by Mozart, German Romantic poets

- lots of word painting, increased role of piano in art songs

- sorrow and personal emotions

Schubert Symphonies

Unfinished, Great

Schubert Chamber

Death and the Maiden, Trout (string quartets)

Schubert Piano

moments musicaux

Schubert Lieder

An die Musik, Ständchen, Die Forelle, Heidenröslein, Ave Maria

Schubert Song Cycles

Die Winterreise, Die schöne Müllerin, Schwanengesang

Schubert Vocal

Fierrabras

Mendelssohn Life and Musical Career

- born in Hamburg, Jewish family

- one of four children, Fanny was also talented

- family converted to Christianity because of political concerns

- age 7: lessons with Marie Bigot

- gifted painter and linguist

- met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Liszt, and Luigi Cherubini

- composed masterpieces in his teens

- studied law and aesthetics

- appointed director of music in Düsseldorf

- appointed Royal Kapellmeister in Berlin but continued to conduct in Leipzig

- sudden death of Fanny was traumatic, he died a few months later

Mendelssohn Musical Style

- roots in 18th century "Mozart of the 19th century"

- emulated Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart

- influenced by the choral techniques in Handel's oratorios

- symmetrical phrases and clarity of texture

- Classical elements: clear harmonic function, sonata form, orchestra

- linking movements

- Romantic features: programmatic elements, modulations

- vivid and colourful orchestration

- light SCHERZANDO writing

Mendelssohn Symphonies

Scottish, Italian, Reformation

Mendelssohn Overtures

A midsummer Night's Dream, The Hebrides

Mendelssohn Incidental music

Antigone, A midsummer Night's Dream

Mendelssohn Piano

Variations sérieuses, Lieder ohne Worte (songs without words)

Mendelssohn Oratorios

St. Paul, Elijah

Schumann Life

- born in Zwickau

- age 18: met Heinrich Heine, poetry became important for his Lieder

- entered law school, but piano was more important

- lessons with Friedrich Wieck, his daughter Clara was his love interest

- first publication was Abegg Variations for solo piano in 1830

- early signs of emotional instability in 1833

- meeting with Mendelssohn resulted in mutual admiration

- appointed professor at Leipzig Conservatory 1843

- toured Russia and Scandinavian regions

- met Johannes Brahms, wrote great article about him

- attempted suicide, sent to mental asylum

Schumann Musical Style

- inspirations from Bach and Beethoven

- embodied Romanticism (heightened emotionalism, underlying sense of pathos)

- programmatic elements

- syncopation, hemiola, cross rhythms

- use of chromaticism

- influenced by Jean Paul and E.T.A. Hoffmann

Schumann Orchestral

Spring, Rhenish

Schumann Piano

Abegg Variations, Papillons, Carnaval, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, Symphonic Etudes

Schumann Operas

Genoveva

Schumann Vocal (song cycles)

Dichterliebe, Frauenliebe und Leben, Liederkreis

Clara Life

- born in Leipzig, father Friedrich Wieck, Marianne singer

- father was manager

- Robert Schumann began studies with Freidrich

- fell under the spell of Liszt's virtuosity, but turned into scorn

- late 1830s started love with Robert

- musical salon

- during the Dresden uprising (1849), walked across battle lines to rescue children

- final stages of Robert's illness, she formed a lifelong friendship with Brahms

Clara Musical Style

- "the high priestess of music"

- catered to demands of a public hunger for virtuosic performances

- main proponent of Robert's music

- musical tastes with Mendelssohn, Chopin, Brahms, CONTEMPT for Wagner, Liszt, and Brucker

- harmonic language embraced mixed modes, progressive harmonies, and modulation

- championed absolute music over program music

- contributed to development of German art song

Clara Piano

Quatre Polonaises, Quatre pièces fugitives, Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann

Clara Vocal

Liebst du um Schönheit, Lorelei, Beim Abschied, Das Veilchen

Brahms Musical Style

- sonata form, theme and variations, passacaglia

- inherited German symphonic tradition

- choral music reflects polyphony and interest in historical styles

- contrapuntal elements (imitation, voice leading, well-crafted bass lines, pedal points)

- Romantic: modal and chromatic harmony

- little interest in program music and NO INTEREST IN OPERA

- German nationalism

- cross-rhythms, syncopation, hemiola, and augmentation

- widely spaced chords, parallel chord motion, chromaticism, writing not always idiomatic

Brahms Orchestral

Academic Festival Overture, Tragic Overture

Brahms Piano

Hungarian Dances

Brahms Vocal

Ein deutsches Requiem, Alto Rhapsody, Magelone, Four Serious Songs, Liebeslieder

Liszt Life

- born in Raiding, Hungary

- first lessons with his father

- family moved to Vienna to study with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri

- moved to Paris to continue education and pursue performing career (IMMEDIATE SENSATION)

- toured many European countries

Liszt Musical Career

EARLY YEARS (1827-1847)

- earned living from concert appearances

- greatest pianist of his era (great technical prowess, sight-reading skills, personal charisma)

artistic circle included Berlioz, Bellini, Donizetti, Chopin, Paganini

- presented a historic solo piano recital which was first of its kind

- relationship with Marie d'Agoult, relationship ended bitterly

WEIMAR YEARS (1848-1861)

- appointed "Grand Ducal Director of Music Extraordinary"

- worked as conductor and music director

- lived with Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein

- mainly orchestral music: symphonic poems, program symphony, piano concertos

- retired from hectic performing career, developed "master class" teaching format (any capable student free of charge)

LATE YEARS (1861-1886)

- followed Princess to Rome, relationship ended in 1864

- traveled extensively

- died in Bayreuth

Liszt Musical Style

- works display virtuosic and religious life

- played from memory, sat with profile to audience

- used BRAVURA effects such as extreme registers, wide leaps, arpeggiated figures, octaves, tremolos

- inventor of the "master class"

- Romantic idioms such as concert etude

- cultivated programmaticc writing

- works display freedom and innovation in terms of form

- advocate for GESAMTKUNSTWERK "fusion of music and drama"

- thematic transformations

- harmonic language chromatic and progressive, favouring mediant relationships

- Hungarian folk and gypsy music evident in some works

Liszt Orchestral

Les préludes, Faust, Dante

Liszt Orchestral with Piano

Malédiction, Totentanz, Hungarian Fantasy

Liszt Piano

Transcendental Etudes, Three Petrarch Sonnets, Liebesträume, Consolations, Hungarian Rhapsodies, Années de pèlerinage, Mephisto Waltzes

Verdi Life

- born in Roncole, Italy

- father was a tavern-keeper

- began lessons in Busseto with Ferdinando Proves

- moved to Busseto to live in home of Antonio Barezzi who financed his musical education in Milan, gave singing/piano lessons to Barezzi's daughter

Verdi Musical Career

- found work in Milan as conductor at the Piccolo Scala

- married Barezzi's daughter, Margherita

- moved back to Busetto

- returned to Milan where he achieved his first success with Oberto

- first commission UN GIORNO DI REGNO was not successful

- endured tragic deaths of family

- Nabucco marked triumphant return

- new opera every nine months

- romantic relationship with Giuseppina Strepponi

- surname used for unification of Italy

- died from a stroke

Verdi Musical Style

- greatest Italian composer of opera in 19th century

- influences range from opera serials to opera buffet, bel canto, Mozart

- conventional "numbers" approach - OVERTURE FOLLOWED BY RECITATIVES, ARIAS, ENSEMBLES, CHORUSES

- unity and flow achieved through "signature" themes

- colorful orchestration

- virtuoso coloratura arias with soaring melodies, runs, ornamentation

- favoured traditional, diatonic harmonic language and moderate chromaticism

- works sometimes convey nationalism

- librettos selected for dramatic possibilities and human elements

- sources for librettos were Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and William Shakespeare

Verdi Periods

FIRST PERIOD (1839-1853)

- gradual evolution within Italian opera tradition

- Oberto, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata

SECOND PERIOD (1853-1871)

- demonstrates influences from French grand opera

- longer works, larger casts, grandiose orchestration

- La forza del destino, Don Carlos, Aida

- Messa da Requiem

THIRD PERIOD (1871-1901)

- Otello, Falstaff

- new approaches to form, including a more continuous musical design, moving away from "numbers" approach

Verdi Operas

Macbeth, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlos, Aida, Otello, Falstaff

Verdi Vocal

Messa da Requiem

Wagner Life

- born in Leipzig

- raised by mother (actor) and stepfather (painter)

- grew up in artistic environment

- studied at St. Thomas School

- considers himself self taught

Wagner Musical Career

EARLY YEARS (1833-1842)

- chorus master in Würzburg, then music director for a traveling theatre company

first opera Die Feen (the fairies) was never performed in his lifetime

- married Minna Planer, had many romantic affairs

- conducting post in Riga

- escaped from his creditors and traveled to Paris to find success as a composer

DRESDEN (1843-1849)

- engaged as conductor at the court of Saxony

- Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser marked dramatic departure from operatic tradition

- began formulating ideas for what would be Der Ring des Nibelungen

YEARS OF EXILE (1849-1863)

- forced to flee from Dresden because of his political activism and revolutionary activities; escaped to Zurich

- creative focus shifted to literary works

MUNICH, BAYREUTH, FINAL YEARS (1864-1883)

- romantically involved with Liszt's daughter, Cosima

- moved to Munich, dream of a permanent festival for performance of his operas was realized

- first Bayreuth Festival had performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876), audience included Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky

- died in February 1883

Wagner Musical Style

- "Music of the Future" GESAMTKUNSTWERK

- drew inspiration from Norse mythology

- wrote his own librettos

- goal was integration of text and music

- influenced by Ancient Greek dramatic practice (long scenes with characters confronting each other)

- influenced by Beethoven, infused operas into a more symphonic approach to writing (closely weaving vocal and orchestral strands into a complex musical fabric)

- invented Wagner tuba

- replaced "numbers" approach with a more seamless type

- Leitmotif characteristic of his works

- "endless melody"

- sophisticated chromatic harmony

Wagner Operas

Die Feen, Das Liebesverbot, Renzi, Der fliegende Hollander, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Ring des Nibelungen (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung), Parsifal

Wagner Orchestral

Faust Overture, Siegrief Idyll

Wagner Vocal

Wesendonck Lieder

Wagner Literary

Art and Revolution, Artwork of the Future, Opera and Drama

Tchaikovsky Musical Style

- embraced symphonic forms and language of Western European composers

- balanced Russian nationalism with Western traditions

- Russian culture served as inspiration for vocal music and operas

- interested in program music

- works exhibit pathos

- achieved lyricism

- experimented with the structure of the symphony

- unbridled virtuosity in works, some even unplayable

- taught theory at the Moscow Conservatory

Tchaikovsky Orchestral

Polish, Pathétique, Symphony in B Minor, "Manfred", overtures: Romeo and Juliet Overture, Serenade for Strings, Capriccio Italien

Tchaikovsky Piano

The Seasons

Tchaikovsky Operas

Eugene Onegin, The Queen of Spades

Tchaikovsky Ballets

Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker

Mahler Musical Style

- traditional forms like sonata/rondo/theme and variations

- Romantic elements: heightened emotionalism, SEHNSUCHT (yearning), and WELTSCHMERZ (world-weariness)

- represents next step in German Lieder

- developed the orchestral song cycle (solos)

- sudden modulations, bitonality

- exoticism: pentatonic scale

- expanded performing forces, a master of orchestration

- subject matter involved nostalgia

Mahler Symphonies

Resurrection, Tragic, Symphony of a Thousand

Mahler Orchestral

Das Lied von der Erde, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Kindertotenlieder, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Mahler Vocal

Das klagende Lied (cantata), Lieder

Ravel Life

- born in Ciboure, France, moved to Paris

- father was Swiss, mother Basque; cultures influenced his music

- began piano lessons at 7, entered Paris Conservatoire

- encountered diverse international music at Paris World Exposition

- 1889, first published work: Minuet antique

- taught by Gabriel Fauré, earned reputation of ENFANT TERRIBLE

- failed to win Prix de Rome

- friends with like-minded progressive artists "The Hooligans"

Ravel Musical Career

- commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev to write music for Daphnis et Chloe

- began WWI military service 1915

- visited the United States in 1927, developed friendship with Gershwin

- honorary doctorate from Oxford University

- injured in a taxi accident, damaging brain

Ravel Musical Style

- expanded tonal language: modes, pentatonic and whole-tone scales, parallel chords, unresolved seventh and ninth chords, polychords

- neo-Classicism: thin textures, contrapuntal writing

- influenced by French harpsichord tradition

- rich orchestral writing influenced by Debussy and Russian composers (Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky)

- attraction to American Jazz

- highly virtuosic works, like Gaspard de la nuit

- humour and gentle

Ravel Orchestral

Rapsodie espagnole, La valse

Ravel Concertos

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Piano Concerto in G Major

Ravel Piano

Menuet antique, Pavane pour une infante défunte, Jeux d'eau, Sonatine, Miroirs, Gaspard de la nuit, Le tombeau de Couperin

Ravel Operas

L'heurre espagnole, L'enfant et les sortilèges

Ravel Vocal

Shéhérazade, Chansons madécasses, Histoires naturelles

Ravel Ballets

Daphnis et Chloé, Boléro, Ma mère l'oye

Schoenberg Life

- born in Vienna

- father owned a shoe shop, family struggled financially after his death

- left school and worked at a bank for five years, pursued interests in music, literature, philosophy oh his own

- principal instrument was the cello

- heavily influenced by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms

- played in amateur orchestra under Alexander von Zemlinsky, who became his composition teacher

- converted to Christianity then back to Judaism

- poor health and poverty

Schoenberg Musical Career

- married Zemlinsky's sister, Mathilde

- moved to Berlin 1901, worked as conductor at a cabaret theatre

- returned to Vienna and attracted students such as Berg and Webern

- moral obligation to his art, earning little money

- created his own paintings in Expressionist style

- abandoned tonality 1908 with his song cycle DAS BUCH DER HÄNGENDEN GÄRTEN

- published HARMONIELEHRE, treatise on harmony

- returned to Berlin, Pierrot lunar created a stir with its SPRECHSTIMME technique

- WWI left him depressed

- 1923 first twelve-tone compositions completed: Five Pieces, op. 23 and Suite for Piano, op. 25

- moved back to Berlin to be master-class instructor

- left Germany because of Nazis

- moved to America, died in Los Angeles

Schoenberg Periods

POST-ROMANTIC PERIOD (until 1908)

- influenced by Wagner, Mahler, Strauss

- drawn to programmatic elements

- chromatic harmony, lush orchestration

- VERKLÄRTE NACHT

EXPRESSIONIST PERIOD (1908-1917)

- rejection of tonality

- Klangfarbenmelodie, Sprechstimme, PIERROT LUNAIRE

YEARS OF SILENCE AND GESTATION (1917-1923)

TWELVE-TONE PERIOD (1923-1933)

- twelve-tone method

- returned to Classical forms (Variations for Orchestra)

AMERICAN PERIOD (1933-1951)

- greater stylistic diversity

- liberal approach to twelve-tone composition

- more connected to Jewish faith

- A SURVIVOR FROM WARSAW

Schoenberg Orchestral

Bellas und Mélisande

Shoenberg Chamber

Verklärte Nacht

Schoenberg Piano

Three Piano Pieces, Six Little Pieces

Schoenberg Operas

Erwartung, Moses und Aron

Schoenberg Song Cycles

Brettl-Lider, Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten, Pierrot lunaire

Schoenberg Choral

Gurre-Lieder, Kol Nidre, A survivor from Warsaw, Die Jakobsleiter

Berg Musical Style

- early works show the influences of Mahler (orchestral colour) and Wagner (use of Leitmotifs, setting of own librettos, chromatic harmony)

- influenced by Debussy (whole-tone scales, parallel chord motion)

- influenced by Schoenberg (Expressionism and twelve-tone music)

- balanced tonal and atonal elements

- liberal approach to serialism - tone rows have tonal implications, therefore making them more accessible

- employed traditional elements like passacaglia, fugue, sonata, theme and variations, cyclic references

- virtuosic writing

- used SPRECHSTIMME and KLANGFARBENMELODIE

Berg Operas

Wozzeck, Lulu

Berg Vocal

Altenberg Lieder, Der Wein

Webern Musical Style

- member of the Second Viennese School

- influenced by Schoenberg (the leader)

- studied Renaissance polyphony, which affected his works

- early works demonstrate Expressionism

- twelve-tone works are radical and strict, all mathematically ordered

- incorporates many canonic and palindromic elements

- preferred traditional forms and absolute music

- works are brief and sparse in texture, POINTILLISTIC

- features KLANGFARBENMELODIE

Webern Orchestral

Im Sommerwind, Passacaglia

Webern Piano

Kinderstück

Webern Vocal

Sacred Songs, Five Canons on Latin Texts, Das Augenlicht

Bartok Life

- born in Hungary

- father was headmaster of a school and amateur musician, mother was piano teacher

- started lessons with mom

- started composing in 1890s

- first public concert at age eleven, including some of his own compositions

- family settled in Pozsony, 1894, he was appointed chapel organist

- shy and serious, health was weak

Bartok Musical Career

- first major success was nationalist symphonic poem Kossuth (1903)

- was searching for an authentic Hungarian "voice", not just stereotypical gypsy music

- met Zoltan Kodaly, who shared a common interest in ethnomusicology, they went on many tours together

- traveled extensively

- became instructor at Budapest Academy, taught for over 20 years

- inspired by Stravinsky's music and Nijinsky's choreography

- married Marta Ziegler, a piano student

- 1917 was premier of highly successful The Wooden Prince, followed by Bluebeard's Castle

- 1923 married Ditta Pasztory, another piano student

- became very famous, also went to United States

- became committee member of League of Nations

- settled in US during the 1940s, worked at Columbia University as ethnomusicologist

- struggled financially because of war

- grew very ill, died 1945

Bartok Musical Style

- early works influenced by Strauss and post-Romantic period

- Hungarian nationalism very evident through folk elements like pentatonic and other non-traditional scales and rhythms

- Expressionist elements like in BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE

- influenced by Stravinsky and PRIMITIVISM, like Allegro barbaro

- used percussive approach to instrumental writing

- employed contrapuntal textures and neo-Classical forms like fugue/sonata/rondo/cyclic structure

- fond of palindromic forms and mathematical principles, like Fibonacci series

- wrote pedagogical works like Mikrokosmos and For Children

Bartok Orchestral

Kossuth, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste

Bartok Chamber

Contrasts, Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

Bartok Piano

Rumanian Folk Dances, Mikrokosmos, Allegro Barbaro, Sonatina, Out of Doors

Bartok Operas

Bluebeard's Castle

Bartok Ballets

The Wooden Prince, The Miraculous Mandarin

Prokofiev Life

- born in Sontsovka

- well-off family

- pianist mother gave him lessons

- began composing at 5, loved opera

- lessons with Russian pianist Reinhold Glière

- began studies at St. Petersburg Conservatory, youngest student ever admitted

- ENFANT TERRIBLE for wild playing style and percussive/dissonant compositions

- composition teachers include Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov

- awarded Rubinstein Prize upon graduation

Prokofiev Musical Career

- 1914 visited London and made Diaghilev, commissioned to create Scythian Suite

- left for United States, traveled and performed in Japan

- critics described him as "savage, steely, and mechanistic"

- opera The Love for Three Oranges premiered in Chicago

- settled in Paris

- traveled to Moscow often, resettled there with first wife Lina Llubera

- troubles with government censors

- 1948 married Mira Mendelssohn, she helped with operas Betrothal in a Monastery and War and Peace

- died March 5, 1953, hours before Josef Stalin's death

Prokofiev Musical Style

1. CLASSICAL

- sonata/rondo

- Classical genres like concerto, symphony, sonata, suite

2. LYRICAL

- sweeping melodies and lush harmonies (Romeo and Juliet)

3. MOTORIC

- constant rhythmic drive (toccata)

4. SEARCH FOR INNOVATION

- unabashed dissonance, abrupt changes of key, rhythmic complexities

5. OTHER

- Russian nationalism (Alexander Nevsky)

- crisp rhythms, clipped staccatos, colourful orchestration gave SCHERZO-LIKE QUALITY

- grounded internality, but often dissonant

Prokofiev Piano

Diabolical Suggestion, Sarcasms, Visions fugitives

Prokofiev Operas

The Gambler, The Love for Three Oranges, The Fiery Angel, War and Peace

Prokofiev Vocal

The Ugly Duckling, Three Romances, Twelve Russian Folk Songs

Prokofiev Ballets

The Prodigal Son, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella

Prokofiev Film Scores

Alexander Nevsky, Lieutenant Kije, Ivan the Terrible

Messiaen Musical Style

1. SPIRITUALITY

- devout Catholic faith, religious works

- chant melodies

2. NON-WESTERN MUSICAL SOURCES

- rhythmic pulses found in ancient Greek poetry

- classical Indian music

- Peruvian folk music

- traditional songs and birdsongs of Japan

3. BIRDSONG

4. OTHER

- influence of Debussy through parallel chord streams, sixth/ninth/aggregate chords

- whole-tone, octatonic, modal scales

- MODES OF LIMITED TRASPOSITION

- serial principles

- thought of chords and modulations in terms of colours

- nonretrogradable rhythms (PALINDROMES)

Messiaen Orchestral

Turungalîla-Symphonie, Oiseaux exotiques, Chronochromie, Des canyons aux étoiles

Messiaen Chamber

Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, Le merle noir